Harriet Potter and the Holy Grail
by Xetarma
Summary: Part 2 of Harriet Potter and the Guardians of Atlantis. Harriet Potter is finally coming to Hogwarts, along with her friends, Hermione and Ron. But little does she know that the Holy Grail is hidden at Hogwarts, Voldemort is determined to get it, and her Defense against the Dark Arts teacher is actually the (dark?) witch Morgana!
1. A New Start

**Harriet Potter and the Guardians of Atlantis** **Part 2: Harriet Potter and the Holy Grail**

**Rating: **T for violence, language, and some suggestive dialogue.

**Chapter 1: A New Start**

September 1st was a very busy day in the magical world. People all over the country hurried to King's Cross station in order to not miss the train to Hogwarts. Technically Hogwarts was Unplottable, so it couldn't be put on a map. Without some magical means of transportation, it was very difficult to reach. However, for years the standard had been the same. Every magical child was expected to ride the Hogwarts Express.

Harriet supposed it was a very nice magical train, though why they had a magical train instead of sending them all to Hogsmeade through the Floo had eluded her until Sirius had explained why. "The entire thing was designed to get wizards used to muggle technology back in the 1830's," he had said, "Of course it's very dated muggle technology now." Which to Harriet, summed up the conventional magical attitude towards Muggles in a nutshell. Generally well-meaning, but also rather harmful and almost universally out of date. Hermione had read the story of how they'd stolen the train (which of course they had done rather than purchasing it legally) and Harriet was utterly unsurprised by the lack of ethics of the magical government when it came to the rights of muggles.

Helen and Robert Granger were giving Hermione their last goodbyes (until Christmas at least). She'd never really been separated from her parents before for an extended period of time, and the Grangers weren't taking it well. Sirius, on the other hand, was relatively level headed about Harriet leaving. Of course, they had spent months and years being separated. Sirius was pretty confident of Harriet's ability to take care of herself, especially in an environment like Hogwarts. Still, Harriet hugged her godfather goodbye. She knew well enough not to take those she cared about for granted.

"Mum, Dad, I need to find a seat on the train," said Hermione.

"Don't worry Mr. and Mrs. Granger, I'll look after Hermione," said Harriet. Sirius tried to suppress a laugh, while Helen Granger looked a bit doubtful.

"I'm sure you will, Harriet," said Robert seriously, "All right, off with you, before we start crying again."

"You don't need to look after me you know," Hermione said as soon as they were out of earshot.

Hermione was wrong of course. She was very smart, but she hadn't spent very much time in the magical world at all. Harriet knew that for the first year or so (at least) she'd need support, if only to deal with the pureblood bigots who were sure to give her trouble. Not that Harriet felt Hermione couldn't handle herself, but there was no reason for her to go through that alone.

Still, there was no need to tell Hermione all that. "I just said it to get things moving," Harriet lied adroitly.

They found seats in an empty compartment in the middle of the train. Hermione had wanted to be near the front, but Harriet rolled her eyes. "Don't sit near the prefects unless you have to, Hermione."

"But I _want_ to be a prefect!" protested Hermione.

"That's all well and fine," said Harriet, "But even if we aren't doing anything wrong, I don't like being watched. And remember, 6 of the prefects are from Slytherin. They might punish a muggle-born for no reason at all."

Hermione gave a frustrated sigh, "Some parts of magical society are just... just… disgusting."

Harriet nodded in agreement. "Yeah," she said.

A few minutes after claiming their cabin, the train started to leave. Shortly afterward, Ron Weasley walked in. "Mind if I share this cabin?" he asked.

"Of course you can sit here Ron!" said Harriet, "This is my friend, Hermione Granger. Hermione this is Ron Weasley, Ginny's older brother."

"Pleased to finally meet you," said Hermione.

"You too," said Ron, "Hey Harriet, did you see the score of the last Cannons match?"

"Yes," said Harriet, "They lost."

"But only by 20 points," insisted Ron.

"That is pretty good for the Cannons," said Harriet, "I guess you're lucky that Quidditch leagues don't have relegation."

"Rele-what?" asked Ron.

"It isn't important," said Harriet smoothly, "Actually, I like the Cannons against Puddlemore this year. Puddlemore needs some serious help at keeper and seeker."

While it was true that Puddlemore needed help, it was a lie that Harriet liked the Cannons against them. She just didn't want Ron to feel too bad.

"Yeah!" said Ron excitedly, "That's what I've been telling Fred and George, but they keep saying I'm mental."

"I assume you're talking about Quidditch," said Hermione.

"What else would we be talking about?" asked Ron.

"Hermione is a muggle-born, so she doesn't know much about Quidditch," said Harriet.

"That is NOT an invitation to spend the rest of this train ride talking about Quidditch," said Hermione.

"I didn't plan on it," said Harriet, "But Ron and I did have a correspondence regarding Quidditch handicapping you might remember."

"Yes, I remember, considering that I did the maths for that," said Hermione.

"I didn't forget," said Harriet, "I just know you didn't consider it that important."

"So, what are we going to talk about?" asked Ron.

Harriet felt a stab of mischief coming on. "Bras?" she suggested. Ron's face went red and Harriet broke out laughing.

"Honestly Harry, there's no need to embarrass the poor boy," said Hermione.

"Sorry Ron, but you should have seen the look on your face," said Harriet as her laughter died down.

Ron grinned sheepishly, "I'm still a bit unused to being friends with girls so I wasn't sure how serious you were."

"So, have you read your coursebooks yet?" asked Hermione, "They're very interesting. And I've heard that there are a lot of curriculum changes this year."

"Yeah, my dad was talking about those," said Ron, "There's a bigger emphasis in the first two years now on theory. Not that they won't be teaching us practical magic or anything, but they want to teach us magic that emphasizes basic magical principles. It sounds kind of boring actually."

"I think that's a wonderful way to start," said Hermione.

"I agree with Hermione," said Harriet, "With the basics down early, we'll be able to learn more, faster, later on."

"That's a good thing I guess," said Ron very unenthusiastically.

Hermione gave Harriet a significant look. Harriet just shrugged in reply. Ron was a more or less decent bloke. But both Hermione and Harriet had just left an accelerated learning program. They were going to be ahead of the curve a bit from the perspective of their study habits.

"Don't worry, Ron," said Harriet, "If you need help, we'll be able to give you a hand."

"We will?" said Hermione.

"That's really nice of you," said Ron.

Hermione was looking at Harriet accusingly now.

"What? I said we'd HELP," Harriet put a strong emphasis on the last word, and Hermione finally understood. Harriet wasn't about to just give Ron the answers. Well not unless the situation demanded it.

Their conversation continued in this manner for a while. It quickly became clear that Ron and Hermione had very few interests in common. That being said, they both seemed to have a very similar view of the world in terms of morality and ethics, even if Hermione's understanding of it was a lot more advanced than Ron's. But generally speaking, they really rubbed each other the wrong way.

However, it was just when Harriet began to think about what to do about this that a unifying figure came to solve the problem. Draco Malfoy barged into the compartment, flanked by two large boys.

"Draco!" said Harriet quite ebulliently, "Welcome to the compartment of the mudbloods and blood traitors. What can we do for you?"

Ron stared at Harriet, stunned that she had used the word Mudblood. Hermione just giggled. Sirius had made it clear that the insult wasn't worth fighting over, and instead, they should turn it into a badge of honor.

Draco narrowed his eyes. "Stay out of my way Potter. I won't warn you again."

"Oh, push off Malfoy, you're all talk," said Hermione.

"Shut up Mudblood," said Draco angrily.

"It's as if he doesn't get that the word doesn't offend us," said Hermione to Harriet.

"Probably the result of a genetic defect in the Malfoy line. Congenital stupidity," said Harriet.

"What the hell are you talking about?" demanded Malfoy.

"They're insulting you, and your family," said Ron, acting faux helpful.

Draco snarled, "Talking about shameful families, aren't you a Weasley?" he said bitingly.

"It is pretty shameful that as purebloods they are related to the pureblood bigots. Like the Malfoys," said Hermione, "But they can't help that."

"And don't they make up for it by actually going out of their way to, I don't know, be decent people?" said Harriet, "I know it's a foreign concept for you." Harriet stood up to face Malfoy.

"What is your problem Potter," said Malfoy angrily.

"Your father is a monster who trapped me in a hellhole with my bastard of an uncle who constantly abused me," said Harriet calmly, "And you've constantly insulted my best friend. So please, don't try to play the victim here."

"Fine," said Malfoy, "Crabbe, Goyle, come on." And with that, he was gone.

Ron looked at the two girls. "That was brilliant. You girls need to give me lessons on how to put a Malfoy in his place."

Well, they all had one thing in common.

XXXXX

An hour later, Ron had fallen asleep as Harriet and Hermione had discussed _Hogwarts: A History_. Hermione seemed to love that book, and Harriet could see the appeal. It was a link for Hermione to a place that she had never been, but would soon be central to her life. Harriet was struck by just how little was known about the founders, however. They had been major figures in their day, and virtually all information about them came second hand. The only contemporary accounts of the earliest days of Hogwarts had been an autobiographical essay written by Merlin (who had been part of the school's first-class) which was depressingly short, and Percival's incomplete memoirs.

Then a nervous-looking boy came into their compartment. "Have any of you seen a toad? His name is Trevor."

Harriet shook her head, "Sorry," she said.

"Do you need help looking for him?" asked Hermione.

That was so like Hermione to volunteer like that. Harriet smiled slightly.

"That would be great," said the boy, "I'm Neville Longbottom by the way."

"Hermione Granger," said Hermione.

"Harriet Potter," said Harriet.

Neville's eyes bulged.

"Please don't," said Harriet, "I hate that. Just call me Harry, treat me normal, and we'll get along fine."

"R-right," said Neville.

Soon Harriet and Hermione were hunting down the corridor of the train looking for a toad. Harriet suspected that if he was on the train, he'd find his way to Hogwarts regardless of whether they found him or not, but she had managed to get restless enough that she was willing to do just about anything to walk around for a bit.

As they were walking, she saw Percy, patrolling with his prefect's badge.

"Hey Percy, have you seen a toad?" asked Harriet, "A boy named Neville's missing one,"

Percy shook his head. "I haven't seen one, but I'll make sure to hand it into the Head Boy if I do."

"Thanks, Percy," she said.

"Who was that?" asked Hermione.

"One of Ron and Ginny's older brothers," Harriet replied.

They came to the next compartment. There were three girls inside, two of them twins.

"Hello!" said Harriet as she opened the door, "We're looking for a toad."

"We handed one to a prefect," said the girl who was not a twin, "One Penelope Clearwater."

"Great!" said Harriet, "She'll make sure that toad gets back to his owner."

"I'm Sue Li," said the girl who'd spoken before.

"I'm Parvati Patil," said one of the twins, "and this is…"

"I'm Padma," said the last girl, "Patil."

"I'm Hermione Granger," said Hermione extending her hand to the other girls in turn.

Harriet sighed inside. "And I'm Harriet Potter."

Parvati seemed surprised, but neither Padma or Sue did.

"The scar is sort of a giveaway," said Sue.

"Right?" said Harriet, "But everywhere I go it's all, 'Harriet Potter! It can't be!' It's annoying."

"I bet," said Padma.

"So, what house do you think you'll be sorted into?" asked Sue as she gestured for them to sit down.

"Ravenclaw for me I think," said Padma.

"I'm not sure," said Parvati, "I'm just terrified I'll end up in Hufflepuff."

"Gryffindor almost certainly," said Harriet, "I tend to charge ahead without thinking."

"Which is sad, because she's good at thinking," said Hermione, "I'm thinking either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw for me, though I wouldn't mind Hufflepuff. At least in Hufflepuff, you get lots of friends."

"I'm thinking Ravenclaw," said Sue Li, "I probably wouldn't do well in Slytherin. I wouldn't put up with the bigotry well I think."

"Yeah, I'm not big on Slytherin either," said Harriet.

"If I get sorted into Slytherin, I'm screwed," said Hermione as she pointed at herself, "Muggleborn."

The other girls nodded.

Harriet found herself liking these girls. They were all fairly clever. Padma and Sue were both extremely brainy, and while Parvati wasn't quite as book smart, she was friendly and tended to pick up on small social cues more easily. While Hermione began discussing the finer points of some potions theory with Padma and Sue. Parvati had begun to talk about fashion.

"I do like the new styles this year. Last year's new robes were cut like my grandmother used to wear," said Parvati.

"Ew," said Harriet, "I don't follow wizarding fashion that closely, but that just sounds unpleasant."

"You have no idea," said Parvati. Harriet wasn't that interested in wizard fashion, but soon Parvati was asking her questions about muggle fashion. That at least Harriet knew a little about. She described a few different types of muggle fashion. When she described a bikini, Parvati actually blushed.

"And muggle women just wear them? In front of everyone?" asked Parvati.

"Well it's mostly at the beach," Harriet admitted, "It isn't that bad when everyone else is wearing just as little or less."

"Muggles are weird," said Parvati.

After a few minutes of that, Harriet and Hermione decided to leave. They figured that Ron would get very confused if they were gone when he woke. But they made a point of remembering to get to know those other girls better.

When they got back to their compartment, Ron had awoken, but only a few minutes before. When Harriet mentioned seeing Ron's brother Percy, Ron scowled. "He's had his head up his arse all summer since he learned he was becoming a prefect."

"Ronald!" chided Hermione, "Language!"

Harriet just laughed.

XXXXX

As the train approached Hogsmeade station Harriet and Hermione kicked Ron out of the compartment so that they could get into their robes. Soon both of them were in their neutrally coloured Hogwarts robes. They'd change to the colour of their house once they were sorted. Harriet suddenly began to worry that she wouldn't be sorted into the same House as Hermione. She was surprised that she hadn't considered that possibility before. And now it terrified her. Sirius had (of course!) refused to tell Harriet how the sorting happened.

"Everything all right?" asked Hermione, noting her friend's distress.

"Sorry," said Harriet, "I just realized we might be sorted into different houses. It would probably be all right, but I'd rather be in the same house as you." She gave Hermione a helpless look.

"You know, if I do get sorted into Ravenclaw, you might too," said Hermione, "You can be pretty smart when you work at it."

"I know," said Harriet, "but I'm not sure I'd be happy in Ravenclaw."

And there was nothing Hermione could say to that.

Soon they let Ron back in so he could change. By the time he finished the train was pulling up at Hogsmeade Station. Grabbing their luggage, they made their way off of the train.

The light was gone as they disembarked, and lanterns lit the platform. There in the middle of it all was a giant of a man yelling, "Firs' years this way."

Harriet, Hermione, and Ron left their luggage with the rest of the first year luggage, and Harriet ran up to the huge man. "Hagrid!" she yelled happily.

"Harriet!" yelled the huge man just as excitedly, "Good ter see ya again! You've grown since the last time we met."

"We'll catch up as soon as I have the chance to get away!" yelled Harriet. Hagrid had been a good friend of Sirius and Remus. A lot of her happiest and earliest memories were of Hagrid telling her stories of magical creatures while she sat on his knee.

Hagrid soon led the first years down a dark path to the lake, where a fleet of boats waited for them. "No more'n four to a boat!" yelled Hagrid.

Harriet, Hermione, and Ron found a boat and climbed in. Suddenly Neville ran up behind them and climbed in as well.

"Thanks for the help with my toad," said Neville, "I heard you told the prefects that it was mine."

"No problem," said Harriet.

"Ron this is Neville Longbottom," introduced Hermione.

Ron nodded and extended his hand. "Ron Weasley," he said.

Suddenly the boat began to move across the water. It came out of the small harbor, and then they saw it. Hogwarts. Covered in lights, it was a magnificent sight.

"Wow," said Hermione.

"That barely does it justice," said Harriet, "But yeah."

The boats came into another small harbor with a boathouse. A path led up to the lower entrance into the castle. The first years climbed the steps carefully, as it was rather dark, but there were plenty of torches to light the path. Soon they found themselves ascending through the castle until they stopped just outside the Great Hall.

Professor McGonagall came out and briefly explained the house system for those who might not know. Harriet knew what was going on, and McGonagall wasn't explaining anything she didn't know. Unfortunately, it was just one last chance to be alone with her worries.

And then the doors opened, and they were in the Great Hall. And the ceiling looked like the night sky! "It's enchanted to look like the outside sky," said Hermione knowingly, "I read it in _Hogwarts: A History_."

The rest of the school was already seated in their houses. At the front of the hall was the staff table, and in front of that was a stool with a hat on it. And that's when Harriet realized the sorting would only require them to put on an enchanted Hat. Harriet wondered if you could argue with it.

McGonagall led them up to the front. The staff was looking at them from the table. Harriet recognized Severus Snape, who sneered at her when she nodded to him politely. She also, of course, recognized Hagrid and Morgan. But in the center of the table was the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Harriet had met him before, but despite his unimpressive demeanour, Harriet had come away from meeting him with a strong impression of him. Now he looked down at the new students, his eyes glowing with joy, as they prepared to be sorted.

"Abbott, Hannah," said McGonagall, and so the sorting began. Whatever happened, Harriet resolved herself to be calm.

"Hufflepuff!" shouted the hat, prompting cheers from the Hufflepuff table.

Hermione was fairly early in the sorting, so her name was called relatively quickly. She went up to the stool nervously, and sat down, with McGonagall putting the hat down on her head. The hat seemed to take a moment, and Hermione's face scrunched up a bit as if she was talking to it. Finally, the hat shouted out "Gryffindor!" and Harriet felt a surge of relief. Which was replaced by dread almost immediately. What if she didn't make it into Gryffindor?

Sue Li was sorted into Ravenclaw rather quickly, and Neville was sorted into Gryffindor after a lengthy session with the hat. The Hat didn't even finish sitting on Draco Malfoy's head before sorting him into Slytherin. Later Padma was sorted into Ravenclaw in relatively short order. The Hat took a little longer with Parvati, finally sorting the surprised girl into Gryffindor.

"Potter, Harriet," said McGonagall. The entire hall buzzed with excitement. That wasn't helping Harriet's nervousness. Harriet sat down and Harriet plopped the hat down on her head.

"_Let's see what we have here. Oh my, you are an interesting one. Lots of loyalty, courage, and not a bad mind. And ambitions too. You want to change the world and destroy a dark lord. How very Slytherin of you,_" the Hat projected into her head.

_"Don't you DARE!" _thought Harriet, "_Hat or not, I will give you a good wringing if you sort me into Slytherin."_

_"Oh, just for that maybe I should do it," _said the Hat.

"_No way you can make your decisions that way,_" thought a defiant Harriet.

The hat seemed to sigh, "_It seems clear to me what your dominant trait is. Courage, but the dumb variety."_

"_That was actually what I was going for,_" thought Harriet before she realized that admitting that might not be a great idea.

The hat just seemed to laugh. _"Fine,"_

"Gryffindor!" it yelled, prompting the entire Gryffindor table to erupt in the most enthusiastic cheers of the evening. The Weasley twins were yelling "We got Potter!", and it took a moment for McGonagall to get everything back to normal.

Harriet went and sat down next to Hermione. "I knew there was nothing for you to worry about," said Hermione.

Harriet shook her head as if she was shuddering. "Nothing to worry about? The damned hat tried to sort me into Slytherin."

Hermione laughed, then remembered herself and shook her finger at Harriet. "Language," she chided, though her heart wasn't in it.

Harriet sighed. "I wasn't joking Hermione. It really did."

Hermione shrugged. "Well, it didn't."

Harriet had to admit that was true.

Finally, the sorting got to Ron, who was immediately and rather brusquely sorted into Gryffindor. He sat next to Percy, diagonally from Harriet. The last child to be sorted was "Zabini, Blaise," who found his way into Slytherin.

Albus Dumbledore then stepped up to the lectern which had suddenly appeared in front of the staff table. "Thank you, everyone," he said, "I have a few announcements before our start of term feast. First I would remind everyone, but especially the first-year students, that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden to all students. Second, I would like to introduce two new teachers. Remus Lupin has taken the post of History of Magic Professor. He will bring a modern historian's perspective on Magical History."

There was intense clapping at this announcement. Binns was a very unpopular teacher.

"Also I would like to introduce Morgan Solaire. She is a curse breaker, and she recently removed the curse on the Defense against the Dark Arts position, which she now fills," said Dumbledore, too polite applause.

"I'll believe it when I see it," said Percy to Ron quietly.

"Also, our curriculum has changed a great deal this year," said Dumbledore, "Some classes have been renamed, and a few requirements for the O. and N.E.W.T.s have changed. We will do our utmost to accommodate any requests for help, especially from our fifth and seventh-year students, who may face some anxiety due to O.W.L and N.E.W.T. requirements. "

And with that, he led them into singing the Hogwarts School song. It was a silly song, but Harriet liked it. The best part was that everyone got to sing at their own tempo and to their own tune. Harriet sang it in a very low monotone, but she had to admit that the twins' dirge was pretty good as well.

"And with that, let the feast begin!" shouted Dumbledore, and suddenly the tables were covered in food.

Harriet didn't need any encouragement. She dug right in.

XXXXX

After the feast, Percy led the Gryffindor first-years to Gryffindor tower. The journey required them to go up the Grand Staircase, which had moving staircases. Hermione was a little shocked at the moving staircases.

"Isn't that massively inconvenient?" she asked Percy.

"Some of the time," he said, "Other times it is very helpful. Of course, there are other staircases, so you can always just avoid the Grand Staircase if you are in a hurry."

Winding their way up to the seventh floor, they made their way down a side corridor, soon finding themselves in front of a portrait of a fat lady.

"Password?" she asked.

"Caput Draconis," said Percy. The door swung open.

Inside was the common room. It was a cozy feeling, with a large roaring fire, lots of windows, and covered in red and gold. Percy began lecturing about the common room, which Harriet largely ignored. But then he pointed to the two stairways in the room.

"Boys dormitories are up there," Percy pointed, "Girls are up there." He pointed at the opposite staircase.

Harriet didn't wait for more. She was the first up the stairs. Unfortunately, the sign for the dormitory on the first level up the stairs said "The Second Years."

"We're on the TOP," said Harriet resignedly as Hermione came up behind her.

After some time, they made their way to the top floor. There were a dormitory and bathroom on that floor, the dormitory being slightly further up the stairs from the bathroom. Sure enough, this dormitory was labeled "The First Years." Walking into the dormitory there were six beds arranged in a circle around the room. Each bed had a surrounding curtain for privacy. Their things had already been moved up here, and Harriet noted her bed was right next to the door.

Soon the other girls came in. Parvati arrived with another girl named Lavender Brown, while shortly thereafter two girls named Fay Dunbar and Sally-Anne Perks walked in. The girls introduced themselves to each other.

"So how are the showers set up?" asked Lavender.

"We poked our heads it there," said Sally, "There are six stalls,"

"That'll make things easier," said Hermione, "We won't have to fight each other over them each morning."

"I think that the number of stalls changes magically depending on how many of us there are," said Harriet.

"Are the boys allowed up here?" asked Parvati, "I wouldn't want one of them walking in on us. Not that I'm expecting them to try that quite yet."

"They can't even climb the staircase," said Harriet, "Though I wouldn't go over to the bathroom in the nude if I were you. If a boy does try to climb the staircase it becomes a slide, and you'll slide all the way to the bottom."

Most of the girls grimaced. "Good to know," said Fay, "I assume the same happens if we try to climb the boys' tower?"

"Nope," said Harriet, "It doesn't."

"Well it's nice that they can't follow us up here," said Lavender.

"Well…" started Harriet, and the other girls gave her a quizzical look, "I said that they couldn't climb the staircase, not that they couldn't get up here. According to my godfather, my dad did manage the feat, but he never told Sirius how he did it."

"Well that's just wonderful," said Parvati.

Harriet shrugged. "If a boy does get up here, we'll just hex him until he leaves."

The girls all nodded. That was all there was for it.

They talked for a few minutes about the trip and the things they had seen that day, but in truth, they were all tired. Soon they had all changed into their sleepwear and were climbing into their beds. Hermione had the bed right next to hers. "Good night Harriet," she said.

"Good night Hermione," Harriet replied. She fell asleep almost immediately.

**Author's Note: **And Harriet is back! I have been busy with Christmas and all but I have a backlog of updates and I am ready to go with this. Chapter 1 was just the necessary scene setting, Chapter 2 will start setting up the nitty gritty details of world building, but after that we'll be off! I plan to update this story once a week. I have actually created a fairly elaborate backstory for Arthur, Morgana and the Founders. I also have a one shot planned at some point that would cover Morgana's original attack on Hogwarts. That isn't coming for a while though. I would probably publish that after Part 3 or 4.

Just a heads up, the rating on the later stories will be increasing to M. Part 3 is done and will probably remain T rated. Parts 4 and 6 could go either way right now, but Parts 5 and 7-10 will definitely be M rated. I might just up the language in part 4 and 6 just to keep the rating consistent, but only if I can do so organically.


	2. Classes Begin

**Chapter 2: Classes Begin**

Harriet groaned as she felt someone trying to shake her awake.

"C'mon Harriet wake up!" said Hermione as she continued to shake her.

"How late am I?" asked Harriet.

"It's seven o'clock," said Hermione.

"Wait," said Harriet, "Are you telling me that breakfast doesn't even start for forty-five minutes?"

"I'm sorry Harry, I couldn't help it," said Hermione, "I'm just excited."

Harriet sighed. "All right, let me catch a shower," she said as she started to pull herself out of bed.

XXXXX

Breakfast was a fairly thorough affair, with lots of different options to eat. "I wonder how they fix so much food each day?" asked Hermione.

"House-elves probably," said Harriet. Hermione narrowed her eyes. Hermione thought the treatment of House-elves was just short of, if not equivalent to, slavery. Once Hermione had demanded Harriet get Sirius to free Kreacher. Harriet had asked where they should send him after he was free. It wasn't that Harriet disagreed with Hermione. She also felt that House-elves were treated very poorly. But the problem was that the house-elves didn't _want_ to be free. Harriet felt that a lot of that was indoctrination, but regardless of where that desire came from until the elves themselves supported elf emancipation, Harriet had a feeling that it would end badly. There had to be a way to get things moving, but Harriet couldn't see it.

"You girls got here bright and early," said Professor McGonagall, who had walked up to the Gryffindor table.

"Tell me about it," said an annoyed Harriet.

"Well here are your class schedules. I'll be seeing you for your first period." McGonagall handed them their schedules.

Harriet looked at the schedule. She had Introduction to Evocation as her first class, a double class. She realized that the curriculum had done away with separate Charms and Transfiguration classes.

"No Charms and Transfiguration classes?" she asked.

"It was decided to combine the two subjects for first years for an Introduction to Magic course," said McGonagall, "That allows us to show off the way magical principles act across different types of evocations. I am teaching the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, while Flitwick is teaching the Ravenclaws and Slytherins."

Harriet nodded. It made sense to her. But not everyone, as they saw thirty minutes later as McGonagall gave a schedule to Ron as he hurriedly tried to wolf down his breakfast.

"Wait, you're teaching Charms _and _Transfiguration then?" Ron was asking, "Do you even know how to teach Charms?"

McGonagall's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Ron, really?" asked Harriet, "It's not like first-year charms are rocket science. You might as well ask her if she knows which end of the wand to point with."

"Oh, well I didn't... I mean..." Ron stumbled.

"I understand what you meant Mr. Weasley," said McGonagall, "I am more than qualified to teach this class."

After McGonagall left, Ron gave Harriet a rueful expression. She shook her head at him.

"Hey I'm not the one who implied the Professor didn't know how to teach us!" she insisted as she and Hermione stood up. "Better hurry up, you don't want to be late on your first day."

XXXXX

Despite Harriet's warning, Ron Weasley DID arrive late. Hermione wasn't sure whether there was any hope for that boy. He seemed to be immune to good advice.

Ron looked around as he took a seat next to Neville. He didn't seem to notice the cat on the desk at the front of the room.

"Good thing McGonagall isn't here yet," he said as he broke out in a smile, "I don't need to get her angry at me again.

Harriet slapped her forehead. Hermione had less restraint. "Honestly Ronald, you deserve this," she said.

"Wha…" Ron started to ask a question when the cat on the desk suddenly transformed into Professor McGonagall.

"Mr. Weasley, we'll speak after class," said McGonagall.

"Yes Professor," said Ron meekly.

Hermione somehow doubted McGonagall was going to be too tough on Ron. Realistically he just needs a reminder to get up at a reasonable time.

"So, now that we are all here," started McGonagall as she looked out over the class, "This class is Introduction to Evocation. We will be covering the basics of sorcery and spellcasting in this class. This includes all forms of Evocation, including both Transfiguration and Charms."

McGonagall began to pace in front of the class but did not take her eyes off the students. "The most important thing I must emphasize is safety. Any sort of magic has dangers, especially Transfiguration. Anyone who disobeys my safety instructions will be leaving this class and not coming back. Do I make myself clear?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good," said McGonagall, "So I start with the question, what is magic?"

Everyone shifted in their seats uncomfortably. Hermione herself was a bit confused. Surely someone knew what magic was?

Finally, Harriet raised her hand.

"Miss Potter?" acknowledged McGonagall.

"No one knows," Harriet said.

"Correct! And two points to Gryffindor for acknowledging your ignorance," said McGonagall, "The truth is that the origins and basis for magic are not understood at all. Simply put, we do not know why or how magic works. After many years of study, we have managed to detect patterns. For those of you who are familiar with muggle science, I would caution you: magic does not follow scientific rules. The rules that magic operates by are seemingly random. But they are very real. Magic should be properly seen as a mystery to be explored, not a formula to be reproduced. Even more 'scientific' schools such as potions or arithmancy lose any semblance of logical progression at advanced levels."

Hermione frowned. Everything should follow scientific laws. But just because no one understood the scientific underpinnings behind why magic behaved why it did didn't necessarily mean that those underpinnings did not exist.

"There are three main expressions of magic," continued McGonagall, "The first is natural magic. This would include things like magical animals, creatures, plants and other talents that various magical have. A person's predilection for various schools of magic falls into this category. This is not magic that needs to be done, it is just a natural property of any magical thing."

"The second expression is derived or applied magic," said McGonagall, "This includes Potions, Alchemy and Enchanting. This is the most organized school, but as those of you who pursue your N.E.W.T. in potions will discover, discovering new potions is hardly well organized. Arithmancy also falls into this category."

McGonagall stopped pacing. "The last expression is Sorcery or evocation. This is the application of a magic user's will upon the world around them through the application of direct magical energies. There are two ways to go about this. First one can try to manipulate raw magic. Some people can do this safely, with training, and generally, we reserve the term Sorcerer for someone who can. and we reserve Sorcery for this sort of raw magic. However, this is far too dangerous for most witches and wizards."

"What most of us use are spells," said McGonagall. She waved her wand and a chalkboard flipped over revealing two columns, one marked 'Transfiguration' the other marked 'Charms'

"These are the two types of spells we use," said McGonagall, "What is the difference between a Transfiguration and a Charm?"

Hermione's hand shot up.

"Miss Granger?" McGonagall said with a smile.

"A Transfiguration changes the physical form of an object while leaving its essence the same. A Charm does something to an object without modifying its form," said Hermione.

"Very good! Two points to Gryffindor," said McGonagall, "Charms do not change the form beyond whatever the logical effects of the spell being cast at it are. For example, a Reductor charm will turn a lock into a broken lock. But it is still a lock. I could also transfigure a lock into a stick of butter."

"So, there are four types of Transfiguration," said McGonagall, "Object transfiguration, live transfiguration, self-transfiguration, and conjuration. Object transfiguration transfigures something into another thing, while live transfiguration is the same, but with living subjects. Self-Transfiguration is very difficult, as it takes a great deal of training to do at will without losing control of your abilities. And conjuration is transfiguring the air into something else, thus giving the illusion that it was created out of nothing."

"Similarly, there are four types of Charms," said McGonagall, "There are your standard charms, which are usually beneficial or at least neutral in intent. There are jinxes, which are charms designed to annoy or harass. There are hexes, which are designed to cause serious, but not permanent injury or distress. And finally, there are curses, spells designed to cause serious injury or death to the recipient."

"Any questions?" asked McGonagall. No one raised a hand. "Very well. We will start by learning the simplest spell. _Lumos_."

Hermione nearly cheered. She was about to cast her first spell!

McGonagall gave very specific instructions. The spell itself didn't seem too difficult. The main thing was that they had to try to connect to their magic through their wands.

"Very well, you may try the spell," said McGonagall after she finished.

"_Lumos!_" said Harriet. Her wand immediately surged with a blinding light.

"Oh my!" said McGonagall, "Put it out! Say Nox!"

"_Nox!"_ Harriet said quickly. She looked a bit embarrassed.

"Your wand requires you to use substantially less magic than your runestone Miss Potter," McGonagall explained, "Try it with a bit less power."

"_Lumos_," said Harriet again. This time it was a much more manageable light.

Hermione finally got it on her third try. "Very good Miss Granger," said McGonagall proudly, "If we discount Miss Potter, who has previously used a spell focus, that was our first spell cast. Another two points for Gryffindor."

Hermione smiled. This was going so well!

XXXXX

"Hello everyone! Welcome to the History of Magic," said an energetic Remus Lupin. He was dressed rather less shabbily than he usually was, likely due to Sirius' insistence.

"Our course this year will look at the broad outlines of Magical History. We will be looking at the broad outlines of international magical history this year, while next year we will look specifically at British magical history," said Lupin excitedly.

Of all the classes, this was the one Harriet was now looking forward to the most. Part of it, of course, was that she wanted Lupin to do well, but more importantly to her, this was a chance to put some seriously bad ideas to rest. Binns hadn't been political according to Sirius, but he was so old fashioned that many bad old ideas were still present in his lectures, such as the idea that Muggles were less advanced than magical. Lupin offered a chance to change the conversation about how history was talked about in Britain.

"Today though, I want to start with something a bit closer to home," said Lupin, "by which I mean the History of Hogwarts."

Pretty much everyone perked up at this. Even the most ardent pureblood supremacist couldn't argue with this topic. Hogwarts was probably the most important institution in British magical history in terms of its overall influence on people and events. Covering it first meant that students could have a proper understanding of the educational goals they were expected to meet while giving a broader context to all magical history in general.

"Everyone, of course, knows the four founders, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin," began Lupin, "All four of them met in battle in 815 CE. Specifically in the battle against Uther Pendragon. Uther himself was a rough fellow. He had come to dominate Wales and central England in the early years of the ninth century, largely due to his use of dementors. By 812 however, Uther had come to find the dementors unreliable and invaded Wessex without their assistance. The Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne sent Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin with a small force to help rally the opposition to Uther."

Lupin cast a spell on the blackboard, causing it to display a map of Britain. "While Godric and Salazar defeated Uther at the battle of Godric's Hollow, they lacked the strength to defeat him utterly. Their chance came when Uther invaded Northumbria. They took a force to join those of the lords resisting him there. However, they were too late. Uther defeated the main Northumbrian resistance, led by a man named Rogbert Ravenclaw. His daughter, Rowena, fled north to Scotland with the remnant of his forces where she took shelter at Hogwarts castle, at the time the home of Helga Hufflepuff."

Lupin waved his wand again, and an arrow went from Northumbria into Scotland. "Against all reason Uther pursued Ravenclaw north, himself being pursued by Gryffindor and Slytherin. When he reached Hogsmeade in early 815, all four founders fell upon his army at once. Uther was a powerful sorcerer, but against the might of all four founders, he stood little chance. Uther was killed, what was left of his army fled to Wales, and the age of the Pendragons seemed to be over."

"But that is where the story of Hogwarts begins. Because all four founders decided to try and find a way to help reorganize Magical Britain. They quickly realized that there was no central authority and that the best way to influence events was to educate young wizards and witches. So they decided to turn Hogwarts into a school. It took them several years to renovate the old castle, and they opened the doors to the school in 820 CE. The first class included such legendary figures as Arthur Pendragon, Morgana, Percival, and even Merlin, all of whom graduated in 827."

Everyone quickly began writing this down. Harriet hadn't known how many of the early heroes of Britain had been in Hogwarts' first class. Harriet herself was descended from Percival, who had founded the Peverell family. Lupin went on to describe the early castle, which was very different from the castle of today. For one thing, originally Slytherin and Hufflepuff had towers just like Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Also, the castle had originally been an actual castle, with walls and a gatehouse.

"Why did they move Slytherin and Hufflepuff houses out of those towers?" asked Hermione.

"Because much of the school was destroyed in 860 CE when Morgana attacked the school," replied Lupin, "After Arthur was wounded at Caemlyn, Morgana sought the Holy Grail to restore him. Percival found the Grail first and brought it to Hogwarts. Morgana assaulted the school, destroying the old Great Hall, Slytherin and Hufflepuff towers, as well as a good bit of the main keep. Morgana's power was so great at this point that even all four of the Founders, as well as Percival, couldn't defeat her. According to legend, she was only defeated when Merlin arrived and added his power to theirs. In reality, Merlin did kill her, but he didn't use magic. He snuck up behind her and stabbed her with a knife, which was a rather Merlin thing to do. For all his magical knowledge, Merlin was always willing to use every tool at his disposal to accomplish his goals. Probably why he and Slytherin got on so well."

Lupin then went into the rebuilding of the school, which was largely overseen by Slytherin, as well as the famous disagreement that caused Slytherin to leave the school.

"Slytherin was always the most difficult of the Founders, but his decision to leave the school over muggle-borns was odd," said Lupin, "Pureblood rhetoric was not common in those days, so the reason Slytherin insisted on blood purity standards isn't well understood. Some say that he originates those ideas, but others have argued that some other social factor was at play that we don't fully understand. However, any accounts of Slytherin being driven out of the school by force are fairy tales. Percival's account of the schism is quite clear that Slytherin left amicably, and continued to support the mission of Hogwarts from afar, however, Percival did not say the exact reason Slytherin left."

"Are you saying that Slytherin did not want to kill all the muggleborns in the school?" asked Ron incredulously.

"That is less clear," said Lupin with a frown, "Supposedly he left behind a monster to do just that. But this all lies in the realm of speculation, as the lair of this creature has never been found, though about 50 years ago there _was _a rash of attacks that were attributed to this creature."

"But what I'm trying to say is that Slytherin remained committed to the education of magical children, even after he left the school. Exactly what he did for the remaining years of his life is unclear. The last of the founders to die was Helga Hufflepuff, who died in the year 1006. At this point, the Board of Governors took over the administration of Hogwarts, and the first Headmaster was selected for the school."

Harriet felt that she agreed with Ron. Everyone knew that Slytherin had wanted to kill all the Muggleborns. But she had to ask, what if everyone was wrong? If Slytherin hadn't advocated blood purity, then that was one less weapon that the blood supremacists had.

Still, Harriet knew that this line of thought would send some of the students in Slytherin into fits. That alone made it worth it.

XXXXX

"You know what's weird?" asked Sally that night in the first year Gryffindor dormitory, "Our Defense against the Dark Arts professor is named after the most famous dark witch of all time."

"Morgan or Morgana is a very common magical name worldwide," said Parvati.

"But why would you name your child after a_ dark_ witch?" asked Fay.

"Morgana was more than a dark witch," protested Lavender, "She pioneered many healing and protection spells that are used today."

"In any case Fay, you're the last person who should make the argument that it is strange to be named after Morgan le _Fay_," noted Harriet.

Fay blushed and laughed along with the other girls at that.

Harriet was a bit concerned about that though. Harriet wasn't sure she believed in omens, but the fact that she wasn't sure that she could trust Morgan cast this conversation in a slightly more sinister light. She desperately wanted the woman to be on her side, as she had so far been nothing but helpful. Harriet guessed she'd have a better idea tomorrow how Morgan felt about the dark arts.

XXXXX

Morgan, as it turned out, was a bit of a tyrant in her classroom. The Gryffindor and Slytherin students had her class together, and she had walked in without any preamble and began to list off her rules for the class. Harriet noticed that Dumbledore was present. That was odd, but Harriet supposed that he had his reasons.

"In this class, we will have practical demonstrations when I can arrange it," said Morgan severely, "When we do them, you will cast _only _the spells you are instructed to, and _only _at the target I instruct you to. If I catch any of you hexing each other in my class, you will be leaving it immediately, no questions asked. While none of the spells we are going to be learning this year are all that dangerous, you will not be getting into bad habits. We will act as if every spell we use could kill us _from the start._ Am I clear?"

Everyone nodded. Harriet guessed that Morgan was being so strict because she was aware of the rivalry between the two houses in this section. It wasn't a bad idea really, and Harriet approved of taking defense so seriously. Harriet noted that Dumbledore seemed to approve as well.

"Now that this is out of the way," said Morgan, her tone suddenly much more welcoming, "I want to talk to you about the purpose of Defense against the Dark Arts. What are Dark Arts?"

Hermione raised her hand.

"Miss Granger?" acknowledged Morgan.

"Magic that harms another living person, either as the primary purpose of the spell or as a necessary side effect," answered Hermione.

"Correct, and two points to Gryffindor," said Morgan, "A cutting spell that accidentally cuts off a finger is not Dark Magic, but one that is intentionally used to disembowel someone is. Generally, magic that is used in self-defense is not considered dark, because the primary thing that influences whether a spell is Dark or not is intent."

"This is not to say," Morgan followed up quickly before Dumbledore's slight frown could manifest, "that all magic is allowed with the correct intent. Some spells can only be cast on someone if you truly hate them. These spells are forbidden, and rightfully so! It is vital that you understand and control your emotions when you cast magic. Hate can lend powerful strength to your magic, but the risks are horrifying beyond your imagining. That is why true mastery of any magic requires extreme focus."

"Now in this class we don't just learn to defend against dark magic, we also learn to protect ourselves against dangerous magical creatures," continued Morgan, "Most such creatures truly are the results of dark magic, but a few of the creatures we will learn about are not."

"But before we go into all that, I want to go over some of the basics of how you can protect yourself from dark magic," said Morgan, "What is the best way to protect yourself against dark magic?"

Draco Malfoy's hand shot up. When Morgan acknowledged him, he said, "Practice your spells!"

"Practice _is_ a good idea," said Morgan, "But there is an even better way. Anyone else?"

Harriet wondered about this for a moment, then raised her hand.

"Harriet?" acknowledged Morgan.

"The best way to protect yourself from dark magic is to identify situations where it might be used against you and to avoid them," said Harriet.

"Very good!" said Morgan, "Knowledge is our best weapon. Unless you have extensive training, which most of you will never get, staying away from dark magic altogether is the best strategy. What this class will teach you is how to recognize Dark Magic, how to avoid it, and how to survive if you fail to avoid it. At O.W.L. level you will start to learn basic counters to common dark creatures and spells, and at N.E.W.T. level you will start learning about how to fight back effectively. I warn you, none of you should try any of the spells that we learn on your own unless you do so with a qualified adult supervising, or unless you have no other choice."

"All that being said, it isn't always possible to avoid trouble," admitted Morgan, "So it may be necessary for you to use magic to defend yourself or others. What it is important to understand here is that above all else, magic is an expression of your will. The stronger your will, the more powerful the effect your magic will have. This is why strong emotions often empower magic. Focus and concentration help you cast a spell more accurately, while emotion and will help you cast more powerfully. As young spellcasters, you will need to master focus first. Once you gain experience you will learn how to use your emotions to empower spells."

"What if the person attacking you has a larger magical core than you do?" asked Draco.

Morgan grinned grimly. "Thank you for bringing that up to Mr. Malfoy. I was looking for an opportunity to segue into it," Morgan paused, probably for dramatic effect, "There is no such thing as a magical core. What is being measured when someone measures a magical core is how much magic you have been exposed to over your life. This is meaningless as a measure of true power."

"There is something called magical capacity, however," continued Morgan, "Every witch and wizard has a magical reservoir that represents their magical energy. Every human has this. There is some small variation in the size of these reservoirs, but the differences are so small that it almost doesn't matter. What does matter is your magical capacity? Your magic will try to keep you at a certain percentage level of your magical power, a level that is different from person to person. So if you have a magical capacity of 50%, after you use over 50% of your magic, your magic will almost instantly restore itself to half strength, and it will take several seconds to regenerate magical energy beyond that. For those of you that are familiar with Muggle electricity, this acts as a capacitor constantly keeping you at 50% magic."

"In general, witches and wizards have between 30 and 60 percent magical capacity, but some more powerful wizards and witches have a capacity into the '60s. The highest magical capacity ever recorded was 73%, and that was Arthur Pendragon," explained Morgan, "But the thing is, for most uses of magic, magical capacity is rather useless. Unless you are going to be firing a lot of powerful spells in short succession, it isn't all that applicable to the power of your spell. A spell requires a set amount of magic, and is empowered by will and emotions, not your capacity."

"So magical capacity doesn't contribute to magical strength at all?" asked Hermione.

"Well, if you pit your magical strength directly against another wizard's magical strength the wizard with the larger capacity will usually win," admitted Morgan, "But very few spells do this."

"Can you test our magical capacity?" asked Draco.

"Of course," said Morgan, "Do you wish me to?" she asked the question almost too innocently. Harriet realized that Morgan wanted Draco to undergo this test!

"I come from one of the best magical families," said Draco confidently, "I'm sure I have a lot of power. Test me."

"We will see," said Morgan, as she raised her wand and cast a spell at him.

Harry couldn't see the effect of the spell, but Morgan could. "49 percent," she said, "that's fairly average actually. Would anyone else like to try?"

Draco seemed disappointed, but Morgan didn't dwell on him. She looked around the room and set her eyes on Hermione. "Miss Granger? How about you? I'm sure you won't be disappointed."

Hermione looked uncertain. "I'll do it if you do it," said Harriet.

"All right," assented Hermione.

Morgan cast the spell again. "61 percent," she said triumphantly, "But I expected a high number. Miss Granger is a muggleborn, and the process of magic manifesting in a muggleborn usually causes their capacity to skyrocket early in their lives. The natural development of magical capacity usually ends around age 11, so most muggleborns have a head start as it were."

Draco seemed very angry at this, but Harriet was delighted. No wonder Morgan had been so eager to show this off.

"You said you wished to try Harriet?" asked Morgan.

"Yep," Harriet replied with a smile at Hermione.

Morgan cast the spell again. "65%! Very strong indeed! I would guess that you are in the top 100 wizards in terms of magical capacity today, probably in the top 25."

"Indeed," said Dumbledore suddenly, "I am only at 62%."

"What is your magical capacity?" asked Harriet.

"Well, ah…" said Morgan in a tone that exposed her uncertainty, "I guess that is only fair. I have 67%. But as I have said, knowledge of spells and the will to carry them out is far more important than any raw power."

Harriet nearly whistled. That _was_ very powerful. Harriet was beginning to wonder who this woman was. And from the look on Dumbledore's face, so was he.

XXXXX

Potions was the last class of the week. Harriet had been understandably nervous. Severus Snape had every reason to hate her, and according to Remus, he was a very vindictive man. However even Harriet wasn't fully prepared for the reality of the situation.

She'd been rather dutifully taking notes when Snape suddenly singled her out for not paying attention.

"Miss Potter, our new celebrity," he said with a barely concealed sneer, "Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harriet quickly scanned her memory. She hadn't memorized all the potion recipes, but she immediately realized that this was a rather advanced Potion for their year. Yet she had read up on the properties of wormwood purely by accident a couple of days earlier.

"A really good nap," said Harriet. If he was going to be like this she was going to give as good as she got.

Snape's eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to be funny? Where would you find a bezoar?"

That one just wasn't fair, as technically bezoars weren't used in Potions but Alchemy. But Harriet wasn't done yet.

"Sorry sir, I'm no expert on goats," she said innocently, "Maybe you could ask Aberforth Dumbledore, I've heard he knows a lot about goats if you know what I mean."

"That'll be two points from Gryffindor for your cheek Potter," said Snape, "Can you tell me the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?"

"Your regional dialect," said Harriet.

Snape's glare was murderous. "I'll be seeing you after class Potter," he said, barely containing his rage, "For the rest of you asphodel added to wormwood gives you The Draught of the Living Death…"

Hermione rolled her eyes at Harriet. But Harriet wasn't done yet. Oh no, if Snape thought she was taking this lying down, he had another thing coming!

XXXXX

After everyone had left, Snape led Harriet into his office.

"Would you care to explain yourself, or should I just start blocking off the next two weeks for detentions?" he demanded.

_That was a mistake on your part,_ thought Harriet. Snape should have never given her the initiative.

"You singled me out and were deliberately winding me up," said Harriet, "When you accused me of not paying attention, I was taking notes. And then you had the courtesy of reminding anyone how famous I am. You know because my parents _DIED_. Every other teacher in the school was somehow able to make it through my first week without rubbing that one in, but it was too much to ask of you. Then you proceeded to ask me three very advanced questions. I'd be willing to bet that none of them are in any of our O.W.L. or pre-O.W.L. level texts."

Snape's expression was unreadable, but his tone was angry, "Say all you want, but your glib answers were exactly the sort of thing your godfather would have done!"

"You treat me like that, and yes, I'm going to respond in the way that sort of send-up deserves, with complete contempt," Harriet shook her head as she tried to calm herself, "I know you did not get along with my father and my godfather. But if you bring that into my education I have a huge problem with that. I'm not Sirius. I held Sirius' feet to the fire over how he treated you. But he warned me that you would do exactly this. I thought that was just his hatred of you talking, but I think now it's clear that he isn't the only one with a problem."

Snape looked at Harriet, his eyes on fire. But before he could say anything Harriet spun around and marched out of Snape's office. If he wanted to give her detention he could, but she was done with this.

XXXXX

Snape never did assign Harriet that detention. Hermione was still stunned at how Harriet had treated Snape. Ron wasn't sure he believed it. The twins did believe it, and they seemed to think that it made Harriet a hero in training. Snape, on the other hand, was most pointedly ignoring Harriet in the Potions class. That was fine with her.

Still, something about the whole thing bothered Harriet. When he did look at her he was troubled. Harriet decided to go to the one person she thought might be impartial on this, McGonagall. She pointedly didn't mention Snape's actions the first day.

"I think it is just how much you look like your mother Harriet," said McGonagall, "He was friends with her for many years. You look a lot like her at your age, but with black hair instead of red."

"Oh, so I look like my mother with dad's hair?" Harriet replied, "It's a wonder he hasn't tried to murder me in my bed."

In any case, Harriet was beginning to adjust to life at Hogwarts. She already was beginning to view the castle as her home. In hindsight, Harriet would realize that it was all too good to be true.

XXXXX

Quirrell was thoroughly miserable. He was forced to wear that stupid turban at all times now. If he took it off, anyone could see what the Dark Lord had done to him. That wouldn't be so bad, but it was raining rather heavily tonight. The Turban was now quite wet and unpleasant. Which made his passenger unpleasant as well.

"_Hurry Quirinus, I wish to get this wet rag off of my face,_" said His voice.

"I am going as fast as I can," said Quirrell as he pointed his wand at Hogwarts castle in the distance, "I cannot be seen, however. If Dumbledore hears we are nearby, he may wonder why." _And he wouldn't be so uncomfortable if he hadn't taken up residence on the back of my head._

"_Whose fault is it that he suspects you then?_" reminded the Dark Lord.

"Whoever is at fault, this is where we are now," said Quirrell, "And I just need to read near one more stone." As he said the last he lowered his wand.

"There is a fissure between the Ministry Wards on the Keystone dungeon and the school wards, as you thought milord," said Quirrell, "I may be able to use that to open a way into the school. Maybe by tomorrow, depending on what we find."

"_You had best get me into that school, or you will not live much past that!_"

Quirrell winced, but he had no choice but to go on. The moment the Dark Lord had possessed him, he had been a dead man. Unless they found the Grail. The Grail would surely be able to reverse what the Dark Lord had done to him. That was his only chance.

Suddenly, Quirrell heard voices. Making sure to stay in the shadows, he crept towards the sound. What he found was two sixth or seventh-year students, a boy, and a girl, making their way into the forest under a large umbrella. With a parcel that Quirrell realized was some sort of tent or lean-to. As they ventured in the boy kissed the girl. The two of them were having a bit of a lover's tryst.

Quirrell smiled. This could be useful.


	3. Invasions

**Chapter 3: Invasions**

"So I've been doing some reading," said Hermione on the evening of their first Saturday at Hogwarts. All the girls were in the first-year dormitory. She had spent the day reading a book from the library; _The Wars of the Pendragons._

"Anything interesting?" asked Parvati.

"If you like history," replied Hermione.

"Then no," said Lavender.

"History can be interesting," said Parvati.

"The Pendragons are definitely interesting," said Harriet, "Even the muggles have heard of them."

"Well I can certainly understand why Professor Lupin was reluctant to tell us about the dementors," said Hermione, "They're the most horrible creatures I've ever heard of. And Uther Pendragon summoned hundreds of them in his conquest of Wales. That's what initially got Charlemagne interested in Britain, and why he sent Gryffindor here. That being said, Uther himself had come to the same conclusion and tried to confine the dementors himself. It's probably the main reason he's seen as a warlord wizard instead of a dark wizard."

"Tried?" asked Harriet shrewdly.

"Well he succeeded as long as he was alive," said Hermione, "Uther was an amazingly powerful wizard, and he had the strength to control large numbers of dementors. His second in command was Gawaine, who was a bit of a military prodigy. Gawaine engineered the conquest of Mercia for Uther, and he was only 23 years old! Gawaine opposed the move to follow Rowena Ravenclaw to Hogwarts, but Uther had seen how powerful she was so he overruled him."

"This is the same Gawaine who was a Knight of the Round Table?" asked Harriet.

"The very same," said Hermione, "After Uther was killed, Gawaine returned to Wales and spent years trying to keep the dementors under control. He was largely successful, but when he joined Arthur's knights he had to leave. Apparently they broke free soon after that. Eventually Morgana had to deal with them, though very little is actually known about what she did. Apparently there was something called the Dementors' Harvest. But pretty much no one knows what it was."

"Why wasn't Arthur put in charge of Uther's kingdom?" asked Parvati.

"He was too young. The founders took custody of both of Uther's children and made sure they were brought up under more… principled guardianship," explained Hermione, "Uther had an… odd sense of fashion. He named Arthur after a Roman general in the fifth century who tried to restore Roman order to Britain. Uther was a big fan of both the Romans and Atlanteans. But he named Morgana after the Celtic witch/spirit Morrigan. Which was a local legend. Uther was Atlantean in descent but was culturally Welsh."

"I thought Morgana was Arthur's half sister," said Harriet.

"Many accounts from a few centuries later do say that Morgana was Arthur's half sister. But Percival and Merlin both wrote that both were Pendragons and children of Uther," Hermione paused, "The author of _The Wars of the Pendragons _isn't sure why this is. He suspects that Alfred the Great had a hand in it. Arthur was a very powerful wizard, but all of his magic was fairly subtle. Morgana was more of what we think of when we think powerful spell caster. It seems that Alfred was trying to recast Arthur as a non-magical, and he contrasted him with his evil spellcasting sister. Making her his half sister allowed him to make her even more of a villain. Alfred was very anti-magic."

"Remus said they were at Hogwarts together with Merlin," said Harriet.

"Yes! Though there are very few accounts of the first Hogwarts class extant," explained Hermione, "this was before the house system really, each student just lived in the tower of the person who had sponsored them to Hogwarts. Arthur was sponsored by Gryffindor, Percival by Hufflepuff, Morgana by Ravenclaw and Merlin by Slytherin. But you could learn magic from whomever you wished in those days. Arthur, for example, was heavily influenced by Helga Hufflepuff's ideas about communities, and it was the basis for his Knights of the Round Table. Well, that and Charlemagne's Paladins. Percival spent a lot of time with Godric Gryffindor, while Merlin, one of the greatest enemies of Dark Magic in human history, was particularly close to Salazar Slytherin, who was probably the only respectable Dark Wizard in British history. But he also got on very well with Rowena Ravenclaw."

"And Morgana?" asked Fay.

"Morgana spent most of her time with Slytherin apparently, but even he was a bit distant from her. Rowena Ravenclaw and Morgana had a big falling out at some point. Apparently Ravenclaw thought Morgana was reckless and delving into magics best left alone," Hermione shrugged, "She was probably right considering what Morgana later did. No one really knows what Morgana thought about the whole thing."

"Anyway, when the four of them left Hogwarts they joined the Guardians of Atlantis, which still had a chapter in Avalon. Arthur even went and recovered an Atlantean keystone, bringing the total in Britain at that time to three. Godric had brought one from Charlemagne's court, because no one there knew what it was, and another had been at Stonehenge since the original Atlantean diaspora," explained Hermione.

"How did Arthur become a king?" asked Sally.

"Apparently the Knights of the Round Table were very successful, and began to unify magical _and_ non-magical Britain," said Hermione, "Eventually Gawaine heard that Arthur was the head of this new organization, and he came to Camelot to join the Knights. He became one of Arthur's closest advisors, and his main advice was that Arthur should declare himself King of Britain. Most of Arthur's supporters were willing to do this, but the author of _Wars_ seems to believe that this was a huge mistake. By declaring himself king, Arthur made the Knights political, which apparently had lasting repercussions. I can't say much more about it, because that's as far as I've read."

"Did Arthur and Morgana really…?" asked Harriet, as she trailed off in embarrassment.

Hermione shrugged, "Now _that _is a genuine mystery. Merlin accepted Mordred's claim to be Arthur's son, but he didn't expound on that at all. Percival on the other hand was sceptical, but not dismissive of the possibility. Part of that may have been that Percival generally believed the best of people though. A lot of what he writes is almost hopelessly naïve. And I say that as a twelve year old!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Lavender.

"Mordred was supposedly the son of Arthur and Morgana," said Parvati lightly.

"Ewwww," said Lavender, "History is gross."

Harriet wondered what had happened to the keystones. As far as she knew there were two keystones currently in Britain, the one taken from Greece in the British Museum, and the one Godric had brought from Charlemagne's court. Arthur's keystone and the one from Stonehenge seemed to have disappeared at some point. But how did you lose a magical artifact that could move leylines? How could you lose two of them?

XXXXX

Albus Dumbledore was uneasy. As headmaster, he had a certain connection to Hogwarts that was hard to describe. The school seemed to have ways of telling him that things were wrong. And tonight, everything seemed to tell him that something was very wrong.

It was Saturday night, shortly after midnight. Things had been seeming to settle down recently. The first years were finally getting used to life in the castle, and aside from the usual petty house rivalries there wasn't a lot of conflict at the moment. Yet the castle seemed to be telling him to be on the alert. So he had decided to get up and patrol the halls.

Minerva and Morgan met him just outside the Great Hall. "Is there trouble?" he asked.

Minerva shook her head. "Morgan says she thinks that the wards are shifting. We've been inspecting them for breaches, but so far we haven't found any."

"I highly doubt the Headmaster would not detect a breach," protested Morgan, "But there are other ways to get through or around wards that do not rely on breaching them."

Dumbledore frowned. Casting a spell, his mind immediately seemed to go out of his body to take a bird's eye view of the school. There he could see the wards. The spell was part of his connection to the school, it was a power that all headmasters of Hogwarts had. As Morgan predicted, he certainly didn't see any holes in the wards. But then he noticed that the wards on the North side seemed a bit deformed. Concentrating, Dumbledore focused on the odd section of the wards. From close up, he could see a small gap between the Ministry wards and the school wards.

"I believe we have an intruder," said Dumbledore calmly, "It looks as if they got into the school by slipping between the school and Ministry wards." He waved his wand absently, locking down all the house dormitories.

Morgan scoffed at that. "How badly are the Ministry wards anchored that this could happen?"

"Actually it was the school wards that were moved," admitted Dumbledore, "At some point the magic on them was somehow loosened. I should have been paying more attention. That must have taken several days to do without alerting me."

A chorus of whispers came down the walls. One of the paintings suddenly yelled out, "Someone is attacking Gryffindor Tower!"

"Harriet!" cried Morgan.

The three teachers rushed up the stairs, at Dumbledore's command the Grand Staircase immediately configured itself to make the easiest path to Gryffindor tower. It was a long and difficult climb for someone Dumbledore's age, and McGonagall was similarly winded by the climb. When they got to the landing they saw a figure in dark robes casting fire at the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Stop immediately!" said McGonagall. The figure ignored her.

Something was very wrong about this. Dumbledore immediately cast a spell to throw back the assailants hood. The face revealed was that of young Albert Hampton, a sixth year student. Dumbledore immediately cast another spell on the boy, who promptly fell asleep.

"Why was he attacking the portrait?" asked McGonagall. "He could easily have gotten back in."

"I have sealed the school," said Dumbledore.

"But he must have been attacking that portrait well before you did that," protested Morgan, "The portraits must take _some_ time to relay information to you."

"Also correct," said Dumbledore, "The only sense I can make of this is that this was…"

The huge boom of an explosion rocked the castle from below.

"...a distraction," finished Morgan as all three teachers ran for the Grand Staircase.

XXXXX

Cedric Diggory was a fairly dutiful student. He wasn't one to break the rules often. But this wasn't technically against the rules he supposed. After all he wasn't leaving the common room. And in Hufflepuff pretty much anything would be forgiven if it was done in order to support another 'puff. He'd managed to get his friends to go along with it, even those in the upper years, and so now they were all decking the common room in bright streamers and banners. It was all for the birthday of his friend Geraldine Stockton, who'd been a big help to almost every new 'puff since she'd joined the house.

Suddenly, the two doors leading out of the common room into the school shimmered as magic seemed to hold them in place. Cedric had never heard of this. Of course no one was going to complain that the entrance from near the kitchens was closed. That one required you to crawl in, and was only used by the first years the first time they entered as a joke. The other door was the 'back door' which had originally been the main entrance, and still was used as such even though officially you were only supposed to use it in emergencies. It led to a wall in a separate part of the dungeons. Hufflepuffs had managed to trick most of the school into thinking the kitchen door was the door they used in their day to day. As a result, no one but Hufflepuffs had entered this common room since the days of Helga Hufflepuff herself.

Cedric was up on the back of a couch stringing up a banner when all of that changed.

A huge explosion rocked the common room as the 'back door' blew in. By pure luck no one was hit by the actual debris, but the force of the blast knocked pretty much everyone off of their feet. Decorations scattered in all directions while Cedric himself fell behind the couch he was standing on.

A man strode through the doorway. With a single word the man froze everyone else in the room in place. Everyone but Cedric that was. Cedric was shielded by the couch. Peeking out, he saw Professor Quirrell, the old muggle studies teacher. He was wearing some sort of turban, and he cast a spell at the doors to the various dormitories, sealing them. He then marched up to the large Hufflepuff banner that was the centrepiece of the common room. With a casual flick of his wand, the banner burst into flames, revealing a passage behind it.

Cedric had never known that passage was there. He watched Quirrell march into the passage, then carefully snuck up to the entrance to that passage. Peering in, he saw it continued to a wall some thirty or so feet in. There was a Hogwarts crest at the end of the hallway, surrounded by the sigils of the four houses as well as a picture of some old fashioned cup or goblet.

"Only one of our heirs can read the message left here," said a voice that seemed to come from the wall.

Quirrell began to turn around as he pulled the turban from his head. Cedric ducked back around the edge of the entrance to the passage and snuck back towards his hiding place by the couch. But he heard a voice, not Quirrell's voice, but a horrible voice that sounded as if it was already dead. "I am the heir of Slytherin," said the voice, "You will show me!"

Cedric heard little for a few moments as he managed to get himself behind the couch again. Once there, he heard a sudden roar of rage from the passage. Moments later, Quirrell ran from the passage, his turban back on his head as he fled the Hufflepuff common room. Peeking out, Cedric saw that there was a look of both fury and terror on the man's face as he stormed out of the room.

It was only moments later that Snape arrived, his wand drawn. Cedric leapt up. "It was Professor Quirrell!" he yelled, "He just left. If you hurry you might catch him!"

Snape seemed genuinely conflicted for a moment. But finally he shook his head. "I cannot take the risk that he might double back here. Once others arrive I will follow him. Your safety must be the highest priority."

"Quite right Severus," said Professor Sprout, who had just arrived, "But, how on earth did he know how to find this entrance?"

"A very good question Pomona," said Dumbledore, who arrived with McGonagall, Morgan and Flitwick in tow, "I suspect we will all regret the answer to it."

Sprout, Flitwick and Snape began freeing the students Quirrell had frozen as well as opening the doors to the dormitories. Dumbledore looked down the freshly revealed passage. Once he came back his face was grave.

"Mr. Diggory, did you see anything of note when Quirrell arrived?" he asked.

"He was wearing a turban," said Cedric, "I think he was bald under it. I didn't get a good look because he turned around at that point and I had to hide. But then he talked in a horrible voice… it wasn't Quirrell's voice."

Morgan inhaled sharply, while Dumbledore narrowed his eyes. "What did he say?" asked Dumbledore.

"He said he was the heir of Slytherin," said Cedric. He quickly explained all that he had heard.

Morgan looked very anxious at this, while Dumbledore looked grim.

"If he's still in the school…" started McGonagall.

"He isn't," said Dumbledore, "He didn't bother sneaking out. He tore right through the wards."

"He's looking for the Holy Grail," said Morgan, her voice chagrined, "He probably thought it was here, but instead he just found a clue."

"I fear you are right," said Dumbledore, "I must go tell Barty Crouch that Lord Voldemort has returned to Britain. I trust you will continue the investigation in my absence Minerva?"

Cedric's head was swimming. You-Know-Who? He was dead, wasn't he? He didn't know what to make of this. All he knew was that something very, very bad seemed to be happening.

XXXXX

Dumbledore marched into the staffroom with Barty Crouch and Amelia Bones. The rest of the teachers had already gathered. In fact Dumbledore had called in Remus at 4 am in an attempt to get to the bottom of what had happened in the Hufflepuff common room. He and Morgan had inspected the wall where Quirrell had encountered… something.

"We need to keep You-Know Who's return quiet," said Crouch, "I know it got out a bit last night, but as long as it stays a rumour I think it's unlikely that the Death Eaters will flock to their former master."

"None of us are going to be spreading tales," said Minerva.

Crouch looked at Severus a bit dubiously.

"Severus would not be here if his loyalties were in the least suspect," said Dumbledore, "And he has the most insight into Voldemort's mind."

"How are your students holding up?" Amelia asked Pomona Sprout.

The head of Hufflepuff shook her head. "The Hufflepuff common room has been a sanctuary for us for over a thousand years. They're shaken. That all that history, all that security could be gone has really rocked a lot of my badgers."

"And the students who were involved with the attack?" Crouch asked.

Severus spoke up this time. "Mr. Hampton was under the Imperius Curse," he said succinctly, "Miss Collins, his girlfriend, had been Obliviated. Apparently the two of them snuck off the grounds to be alone and ran into Quirrell."

"Why did You-Know-Who only use Hampton in the attack?" asked Amelia.

"Collins is in Hufflepuff," said Pomona, "The whole purpose of using the students was to lure us teachers away from Hufflepuff house."

"And we are sure Quirrell has left the grounds?" asked Amelia.

"Hagrid and I did a thorough sweep," said Filius Flitwick, head of Ravenclaw house, "There is no way he is still here."

"What did you find from investigating the wall in the Hufflepuff common room?" Dumbledore asked Morgan and Remus.

"The wall had the sigils of all four founders, as well as an image of the Holy Grail on the walls," said Remus, "When I approached the wall told me that only the heir of one of the founders would gain a hint there."

"Not quite," said Morgan, "It said 'one of our heirs.'"

"Wouldn't that be the founders though?" asked Minerva, "How can we find out what You-Know-Who learned if only an heir of the founders can learn it?"

"Possibly that is the case," said Morgan, "But there was a fifth sigil there. The grail. That was the personal sigil of Sir Percival."

"The Peverell family sigil is not the Grail," said Dumbledore.

"No, but Percival's was," said Remus, "he took it as his sigil after he found the Grail. The sigil was changed by his great grandsons when they came into the possession of three powerful artifacts."

"The Deathly Hallows," said Dumbledore.

"In any case, the founders couldn't have sealed the Grail away without Percival's help," said Remus, "It is a powerful magical artifact that seeks those worthy of wielding it. Like the way the sword of Gryffindor might appear to any worthy Gryffindor. Only Percival would have had the right to devise a test that would lock the Grail away behind it."

"Do we know who the heir of Peverell is?" asked Crouch.

"Harriet Potter," said Morgan instantly.

"She's right, the Potters inherited the Peverell Wizengamot seat ages ago," said Remus.

"I don't feel right involving an eleven year old girl in this," said Crouch.

"Neither do I," said Morgan, "But as the heir of Peverell, the Grail is hers to pursue. We have no right to stop her if she wishes to do so."

"Is it for the best that she pursue this?" wondered Amelia, "That might just be playing into You-Know-Who's hands. He might want her to take it out of its hiding place so he can take it."

"The truth is we have no idea how well the Grail is protected," said Dumbledore, "At the very least we must ask Harriet to find out what the message Voldemort found is. But even knowing that, I think we must assume that he will eventually be able to find it."

"Though his lack of access to the school will slow him down," noted Flitwick.

"I will approach Harriet about visiting that wall then," said McGonagall, "And I suppose it will be up to her how far this goes."

XXXXX

The entire school was abuzz about the attack on the Hufflepuff common room. Harriet had also heard rumours that someone had attacked Gryffindor tower. This was more or less confirmed by the scorch marks outside the Fat Lady's portrait. Clearly something had happened last night, and it had nearly been a disaster.

Still, Harriet was surprised when Professor McGonagall approached her after breakfast.

"Miss Potter, I wanted to speak to you for a moment, " said the Professor.

Hermione gave Harriet a look, but Harriet waved her away. Much as Harriet loved Hermione, the older girl could be a bit nosy. Harriet would certainly tell her what happened, but it would happen on her terms.

"I'm sure you have heard about the attack on Hufflepuff house last night," said McGonagall.

"I have," said Harriet.

"The attacker was a former professor, named Quirrell," said McGonagall.

"Was Voldemort with him? Or did he stay behind?" asked Harriet.

"You are rather well informed about Quirrell it seems," said McGonagall.

"Sirius felt it was important that I knew to stay away from him, and why to stay away from him," admitted Harriet.

"There is wisdom in that," agreed McGonagall, "We believe that You-Know-Who was with him, as there was a wall that was enchanted to give information about the location of the Holy Grail, but only to a descendent of one of the those who sealed it away."

"Voldemort is descended from a founder?" asked Harriet.

"Slytherin apparently," said McGonagall.

_That figures,_ thought Harriet.

"In any case, none of us can read the clue left behind," said McGonagall.

"I'm not descended from a founder," said Harriet.

"No you are not," said McGonagall, "But Sir Percival also helped seal away the Grail, or at least we believe so."

"Oh, well maybe I can help you then," agreed Harriet.

"Thank you Harriet," said McGonagall, "I will escort you to the Hufflepuff common room."

XXXXX

Harriet was surprised at the hostility directed at her from the students in Hufflepuff. After all, it wasn't her fault that a murderous dark wizard had blasted his way into their house. She was just here to help clean up the mess. But the Hufflepuffs tended to be a bit clannish at times like this, and most of them gave her suspicious stares.

Morgan and Remus were waiting for her there. Remus led her down the hallway behind the now burnt Hufflepuff banner. Harriet couldn't help but notice that Morgan was hanging back a bit. That didn't make much sense to her, unless Morgan was afraid of something. Harriet filed it away as something she'd have to ask Morgan about.

"So, what is the Holy Grail?" asked Harriet idly.

"It was an artifact of ancient Atlantis," said Remus, "it has healing powers."

"Powers that were _supposedly_ strengthened when Jesus of Nazareth used it at the last supper," said Morgan, "though that part is a bit controversial in historical circles. The Grail was originally found in the vicinity of Jerusalem, so it isn't impossible, I suppose."

Harriet walked up to the wall at the end of the hallway. In the centre was the Hogwarts crest, but each individual house crest radiated out from it. And below that was the symbol of the Grail. Harriet touched that symbol.

"I am Harriet Potter. I am the heir of Percival Peverell," she said.

For a moment it seemed as if nothing had happened. Then the wall seemed to go transparent. Behind it she saw images of five people, three men and two women. One of the women was tall and severe looking, while the other was bigger, more full bodied, but not what Harriet would call fat. Two of the men were well dressed, one with brown hair and a smile on his face, the other with black hair and a rather more sinister grin. The last man was dressed plainly, his face seeming like an open book. In a burst of insight, Harriet realised that this was not necessarily what the founders had actually looked like, but rather how she envisioned them.

"Can you see them Remus?" she asked, turning to look at the man. But he did not respond and stood still as if he was frozen.

"Time has stopped, thanks to a trick of Merlin's" said the plainly dressed man, "I am Percival, whom you called Percival Peverell."

"And the rest must be Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Slytherin," said Harriet, "Stopping time can't be an easy feat though."

"It is not," said Slytherin, "It is also, generally speaking, not a wise thing to do. But for this, we need privacy. Only in between moments can we truly speak to you."

"Another has accessed this memory," said Gryffindor.

"My descendant," said Slytherin, his distaste obvious, "He possessed that poor man. What he must have done to his own soul to get into that state…"

"He possessed Quirrell?" said Harriet in surprise, "I guess I should have guessed he'd stoop to that. Without his body he probably needed some way to interact with the world."

"You are aware of what he has become?" asked Ravenclaw sceptically.

"I would not have burdened one so young with that knowledge," said Hufflepuff, with most of the rest nodding.

"I think it is good to show the young the dangers of magic early on," said Slytherin, which prompted eyrolls from the rest of the images.

"I defeated Voldemort, as an infant, or rather my mother did by sacrificing herself for me," said Harriet, "My godfather decided that I had a right to know that Voldemort had survived, and in just what form he had done so."

The images all nodded at that.

"He cannot be allowed to take the grail," said Percival, "It would restore him to life, and finally grant him the true immortality he seeks, if he could hold onto it."

"He is too powerful for our enchantments to keep him out forever," said Slytherin.

"Find the heart of Hogwarts," said Hufflepuff.

"It shall guide you to the final clue," said Ravenclaw.

"I sense that you reside in my house child," said Gryffindor, "Take heart, for I sense in you a power that still protects you."

"The Grail must go to Avalon," said Percival.

"To Avalon," said the rest.

"How do I get it there?" Harriet asked, "Avalon has been lost for.. well for a long time."

Percival smiled. "It is not, though it can be forgiven that you think so. Avalon will tend to itself, and if the Grail is found, you must simply make sure that it ends up in the hands of the one who comes from there."

"That may or may not be your task," said Gryffindor, "just keep you eyes to your current goal, and the future will come as it may."

"Good luck, my granddaughter of countless generations," said Percival, "May the Grail find you worthy…"

And with that, the images vanished.

"Anything yet?" asked Remus.

"Yes," said Harriet.

"Already?" asked Remus, "I didn't see anything."

"They stopped time," explained Harriet.

Morgan laughed dryly. "Sounds like something Merlin would cook up." Harriet narrowed her eyes at that. How would she know that?

"I suppose," said Remus, "There are legends of him playing with time travel. But actually stopping time? I've never heard of that."

"I have my instructions," said Harriet. Harriet was not about to tell Morgan what she'd just been told, not now. Her behaviour was too odd. Much as Harriet wanted to trust the woman, she was coming to the conclusion that something there was very, very wrong.

"And?" asked Remus.

"I'm not going to tell anyone else until I decide whether to hunt this down or not," said Harriet. Okay that was a lie, but her teachers didn't need to know that. She'd definitely tell Hermione, and maybe Ron. She needed advice, but she had to get a read on Morgan first.

"I suggest you ask Dumbledore for his take on things before you decide," said Morgan, "He may be able to aid you in ways the rest of us can't."

It was good advice, admitted Harriet. She wished that made her more confident.

XXXXX

Unfortunately, Dumbledore was unable to give her any better advice. Even telling him the clue she'd been given, he was unable to make heads or tails of anything. He urged her to use caution if she planned to go after the Grail, but that was hardly useful. The Founders and Percival had clearly believed that the Grail was in imminent danger, so Harriet felt she should go with their read on the situation.

But that didn't mean she was any closer to finding the heart of Hogwarts. Harriet was rather concerned that this referred to the chamber deep in the dungeons that housed the Atlantean keystone. But something about that answer felt wrong. It seemed as if the answer should be more personal.

But the one thing that would not wait was Morgan. Morgan's actions had finally convinced Harriet that something needed to be done. Whatever her game was Harriet had to know. So she sat Ron and Hermione down to get their opinions.

"Morgan has been acting odd," said Harriet.

"I know what you mean," agreed Hermione, "By her own admission she never attended Hogwarts, yet she constantly acts as if she is intimately familiar with it."

"But sometimes she seems to get really confused by everything," said Ron, "It's like she knows some areas of the castle really well, but other areas she has no idea about."

Hermione furrowed her brow. "I didn't notice that," she said finally.

"She constantly gets lost in the Dark Arts Tower," said Harriet.

"But I saw her in the dungeons, and she seems to know every inch of those," said Ron.

Harriet didn't like the direction this conversation was taking. "She also didn't want to be anywhere near me when I was talking to the founders in the Hufflepuff common room. It was like she was afraid they'd see her."

"That's strange," agreed Hermione, "But she is a cursebreaker. Maybe she has reason to be wary of things like that."

"So she lets an eleven year old take the risk for her?" objected Ron.

"Okay that is pretty unlikely," admitted Hermione.

"But the last part was weird," said Harriet, "When I mentioned that the clue stopped time, she said it sounded like something Merlin would cook up. How would she have any idea of that? Merlin is an almost mythical figure. We have very little idea what sort of magic he actually used regularly."

"It sounds like she has some sort of inside knowledge," said Hermione.

"Maybe she's a Guardian of Atlantis!" said Ron.

"Merlin was supposedly the last Guardian wasn't he?" asked Harriet.

"There are some legends that say that the Guardians went into hiding until the day that we need them," said Ron, "maybe she's one of them."

Hermione looked at Ron sceptically. Harriet knew how she felt. It might be possible for the Guardians to still exist, but Morgan wasn't even from Britain.

"Well, if you are at an impasse, why don't you ask Morgan?" said Hermione.

"What?" said Harriet and Ron simultaneously.

"I mean, it isn't as if you have anything to lose," said Hermione, "She's a smart woman, she has to know she's making these mistakes. If you show you've been catching them she might give you something more to work with."

"That assumes she doesn't just lie," said Ron.

"I don't know," said Harriet, "I get the feeling that she wants me to trust her. If I catch her lying she has to know I'll turn on her."

"It's worth a try," said Hermione.

"Okay, I'll ask her," said Harriet.

XXXXX

Harriet was a lot less sure of herself that evening when she knocked on the door to Morgan's office. For some reason she was rather worried about this. Part of it she supposed was that she was reluctant to have her faith in Morgan shattered. The woman had probably saved her life. Harriet wanted to believe in her. But she was making it so hard!

"Harriet!" said Morgan as she opened the door, "This is a surprise. What can I do for you?"

"I need to ask you a question," said Harriet as she entered the office. As Morgan shut the door, Harriet sat down in front of Morgan's desk.

"What is your game?" said Harriet bluntly, "You're acting weird, and while I want to trust you, the fact is that you are very clearly hiding something from me. I'm not stupid, and I can't keep trusting you unless you come clean with me, even just a bit."

Morgan smiled. "I suppose I should have expected this. I don't suppose you'd promise to not tell anyone what I am about to tell you?"

"I will absolutely not promise to do that," said Harriet, "That isn't a good start either."

"Well, I guess I'll just have to tell you and trust that you'll agree my reasons for keeping this a secret are good," said Morgan, "Because you're right, you do have a right to know this. I meant to tell everyone soon, but then this thing with the Grail happened…" Morgan trailed off.

"I'm all ears," said Harriet.

Morgan sighed. "When I was a little girl, everyone thought I was a prodigy. I knew so much about how magic worked from a very young age. My parents were shocked about how intuitive I was about magic without being told."

"Sounds like a good problem to have," said Harriet.

"Sometimes I'd be wrong though," continued Morgan, "But as time went on a pattern started to emerge. Most of the times I was wrong, I was certain I was right. One time my mother realized that I was telling her a theory about magic that had been debunked 400 years ago. Eventually we looked up the other times that I was wrong. All of them were theories of magic that had been discarded sometime in the last 1000 years."

Harriet's stomach felt sick suddenly.

"When I was nine the memories started appearing," Morgan said almost distantly, "I would remember places I'd never been, people I'd never met. All from over a thousand years ago. By the age of eleven, I had an entire life in my head. The life of a person who had performed a ritual so they would be reincarnated, memories intact, sometime in the future."

"Who?" asked Harriet, her voice barely a whisper. But somehow, she knew. Oh yes, she knew.

"In my previous life," began Morgan, "I was Morgan le Fay. Also known as Morgana Pendragon, the Dark Witch of Avalon, sister to Arthur and Guardian of Atlantis."

**Author's Note: ** It's an eventful first week for Harriet, and now we have Morgana revealing herself to Harriet. There are a couple of points I want to make. We will learn how Voldemort learned how to find this secret room in Part 4, so don't worry about the answers to that for a while. And the keystone mystery probably won't be cleared up until Part 7. Maybe Part 6, but that will depend on how much Flamel opens up to Harriet during her 5th year.

On the dating conventions, many scholars were using CE and BCE in the 90's and earlier, but it only became common in secondary schools in the 2000's. Lupin's use of that terminology is deliberate characterization. The term Common Era to stand in for AD actually dates back to 1615, amd Jewish scholars were using the abbreviated forms in the nineteenth century. Christian/Western scholars have been slowly adopting CE and BCE since the 60's/70's at least.

As to the question would conjuration work underwater, in my universe it would do so unequivocally. First, there is free oxygen in water, so if all else failed you could just transfigure that. Second, even if it was another substance (like helium) conjuration would just transform whatever is surrounding you into whatever you are conjuring. Conjuration would not work in a vacuum though.

Anyway, the next 3 chapters go in a very different direction in terms of story. Let me put it this way, if you like Draco Malfoy the next three chapters will be rough for you, but the rest of the story after that will probably be really interesting to you.


	4. Tensions

**Chapter 4: Tensions**

"Wait, what?" asked Harriet after a stunning moment, "You can't be serious. You expect me to believe that you are Morgana?"

"I realize that this is probably difficult for you to accept," admitted Morgan, "But it is the truth."

"You're the most powerful Dark Witch in history?" said Harriet skeptically.

"No, but Morgana was. I have never used any sort of dark magic," explained Morgan.

Harriet tried to calm herself. This made no sense! Was this some sort of trick on Morgan's part? No, it was too crazy to be a trick. She believed it. But maybe she was crazy. Yet Morgan didn't seem crazy.

"Okay, so what is the distinction then?" asked Harriet.

"In my previous life, I was Morgana. Morgana used dark magic and it polluted her mind. I have never used any form of dark magic, so my mind is not corrupted as hers was," replied Morgan patiently.

"So what is it that you are trying to do then?" Harriet asked, "Are you trying to get the Grail?"

"Of course not," said Morgan very decisively, "I wanted the Grail in my previous life to save Arthur's life. Arthur has been dead for over a thousand years. I want nothing to do with the Grail."

"Then what…" started Harriet, but she was cut off.

"I want to fix what I broke," said Morgan, "A thousand years ago Arthur, Merlin, Percival and I all agreed that we needed to save the magical world by reuniting the Atlantean keystones. We made a good start to it. But because of what I did, we failed. And the magical world has paid the price. The Statute of Secrecy, Pureblood Supremacy, the rarity of muggleborn witches and wizards. It all stems from that failure."

"When the old Atlantean Runestone was broken up into the keystones, the Guardians fled with them across the world, but kept them, I guess you could call it tuned, the same way," explained Morgan, "For many years, magic across the world was stable. But as time went on, the descendants of the Guardians lost control of more and more keystones, and the ones that were lost were used by their new owners for functions they saw fit, but that did not maintain the flow of magic as it had once been. Magic became less pervasive. Muggleborns became less common. We joined together to reunite the keystones and reignite the magic of old, but due to my poor judgment, and my later betrayal, we failed."

Morgan sighed, "Now the keystones do the opposite of what they were supposed to do. They try to hide the magical world instead of enhancing it. And the magic is dying because of it. Things are made worse by the pureblood supremacists. Concentrating on old faltering bloodlines while actively trying to exclude what little new blood we get has created an inbred magical population that is constantly producing squibs."

"So you want to reunite the Atlantean keystones?" asked Harriet.

"Or at least retune them so they re-empower magic again," corrected Morgan.

"And you're opposed to Voldemort because he is a pureblood supremacist?" continued Harriet.

"Yes, though also because Voldemort has delved into some very dangerous magic. Some of it… well even at my worst I wouldn't have dared to touch it," said Morgan.

"I don't know what to say," admitted Harriet, "I don't even know whether I can believe this." This was just insane! It had to be a joke, it just had to be.

"And the debt you supposedly owe my family?" asked Harriet.

"Well, I did try to kill Percival when he came back with the Grail," said Morgan ruefully, "I, uh, leveled half of Hogwarts doing so as well. Not my proudest moment."

"I… I don't know how to process this, " said Harriet.

"Take what time you need," said Morgan, "It is not imperative that you believe me. At least not yet."

Harriet nodded and left. The entire trip back she was stunned. This was crazy, well beyond anything she'd expected.

When Hermione ran up to her and asked, "Well, what did she say?" Harriet just gaped at her for a moment.

Finally, she managed to get herself together. "I… what she told me was one of the craziest things I've ever heard in my life," said Harriet, "I need to figure out if she is just crazy or if we have a problem or… I just don't know. Once I get my head around it, I promise, I will tell you, just wait a bit alright?"

Hermione nodded, obviously disappointed, but also clearly acknowledging that Harriet had a lot to deal with these days. Harriet suddenly felt a rush of affection for the other girl. She was naturally curious and suppressing her instincts couldn't be easy. Harriet appreciated it.

XXXXX

Harriet was a bit excited about flying lessons. Of course, she already knew how to fly, but once they'd completed the lessons she'd be able to join the flying club. Being able to fly regularly would be worth any hoops she had to jump through.

The morning of the lessons, Neville Longbottom received a package from his grandmother, containing a remembrall. There had been a bit of a fuss when Malfoy had come over and tried to take it, but Ron, Dean, and Seamus had all jumped in front of Malfoy before things could escalate, so the boy had had no chance of even getting close to Neville. It had almost come to blows, but Malfoy had decided to fall back.

He was going to be trouble, thought Harriet. It was clear that the younger Malfoy was a bully, and he used his two constant companions, Crabbe and Goyle, as his goon squad. Draco seemed to be rather desperate about something though. Sirius thought he might not have as easy a time in Slytherin as he was expecting, but Harriet didn't know what that meant.

The person he seemed to hate the most was Hermione. He refused to even speak to her, or acknowledge her presence. The Grangers had been rather pivotal in Lucius's recent fall from grace, so Harriet supposed that Draco wasn't likely to think of them warmly. But when Draco looked at Hermione, Harriet saw something burning in his eyes. It was an outrage that Harriet had never seen before. Ron seemed to think that the boy was a spoiled brat, but Harriet suspected there was a bit more to it.

Whatever the case, Draco looked less out of sorts when they gathered for their first flying lesson. Harriet questioned the wisdom of pairing Slytherin and Gryffindor for this activity, but that was how it was at Hogwarts. Harriet understood that inter-House unity was a good ideal, but she was also fairly sure that things at Hogwarts were far from ideal.

The big disaster happened because of Neville of course. Neville had some confidence problems and it showed. Harriet made a mental note to send him some encouragement when she could. But this time he lost control of his broom and was sent tumbling to the ground. He had broken a wrist, and Madam Hooch, the flight instructor, threatened expulsion to anyone who took to the air while she brought Neville to the hospital wing.

Harriet was willing to wait, after all, she'd done this before. But then Malfoy had found Neville's Remembrall, and an argument had broken out between him and Ron.

"I'd better intervene," said Harriet to Hermione, "Ron's likely to start a fight with Malfoy, which he won't win, not with Crabbe and Goyle there."

Harriet stepped up to the two arguing boys. "Malfoy!" she shouted as she walked up to the boy, "That there isn't yours. Hand it over, and you won't have the ignominy of being beaten up by a girl."

The Gryffindors all laughed. Most of the Slytherins looked wary. Harriet was a bit of a wild card to them, and they didn't know what to make of this threat.

"I don't think I will Potter," said Malfoy. He at least seemed to think the idea of her beating him up was amusing. "I think I'll leave this somewhere for Longbottom to find!"

And with that, Draco took off on his broom. Harriet followed him without hesitation.

"Harry!" screamed Hermione frustratedly.

Draco initially tried to lose Harriet, but she was too skilled a flier. Finally, Draco got tired of this and hurled the Remembrall towards the school. Harriet accelerated to full speed easily and managed to snag the Remembrall out of the air. Descending to the ground, the other Gryffindors ran to greet her.

"That was brilliant!" said Ron admiringly.

"You put Draco in his place!" said Lavender, pointing to the rather dejected-looking boy who had finally rejoined the other Slytherins. Harriet noticed that Theodore Nott, the son of another rich pureblood family, seemed rather smug about the whole thing.

"That was too big a risk," said Hermione before she was interrupted by another voice.

"Harriet Potter!" said the voice of Minerva McGonagall.

The other Gryffindor's parted so that Harriet could have a clear path to their stern head of house.

"Come with me," she said, gesturing to the school. She seemed agitated.

Hermione gave Harriet a look that said "I told you so," but Harriet ignored it. She had no regrets.

McGonagall brought Harriet into the school but led her up to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Poking in her head, she asked Morgan if she could borrow Wood.

Wood? Wait, he was the Quidditch captain! Harriet suddenly realized that she wasn't in trouble.

"Wood, I think I've found you a seeker," said McGonagall to Harriet's pure joy.

XXXXX

"She made you Seeker!" asked Hermione in a stunned voice.

"Yep," said Harriet, trying very hard not to be smug.

"That's just brilliant Harry!" said Ron excitedly, "that'll make you the youngest Quidditch player in a century!"

"You should have been punished and instead they put you on the Quidditch team?" demanded Hermione.

"Yes," said Harriet with a grin, "It couldn't have worked out better if I tried."

Hermione made a _hmph_ sound. "I'm not talking to you right now Harriet!" she said as she stormed off.

"What's her problem?" asked Ron.

Harriet sighed. "I think I just blew past her quota of rebellion for the year," admitted Harriet, "She'll come around once she realizes why I did it."

"Well right, I mean it's Quidditch!" said Ron.

Harriet sometimes had to wonder if Ron had been dropped on his head as a baby. She hadn't intended for this to happen, she'd just tried to get back Neville's Remembrall. For all that had gone right, how did it now feel as if it had all gone wrong?

XXXXX

"Why are we doing this again?" asked Sirius as he stood next to Arthur and Barty Crouch in Crouch's office. They were standing next to a portrait, which happened to be a portkey. Sort of. Sirius didn't know exactly how it worked, but it teleported you to the office of the British Prime Minister.

"The Minister for Magic is required to brief the Muggle Prime Minister on developments that might affect the muggle world," said Arthur. Sirius had to admit that Crouch was rather conscientious about fulfilling his duties in that regard. Even if that usually meant foisting the duty off on Arthur. Other Ministers of Magic tended to leave the Muggle Prime Minister in the dark.

"That doesn't explain why I am here," protested Sirius, "I very intentionally did not pursue a career in the Ministry just to avoid things like this."

"It's the price you pay for getting noticed in the Wizengamot," said Crouch dryly.

"We'll make a responsible wizard of you yet Sirius," joked Arthur.

Sirius tried to look shocked, but the whole effect was spoiled when he suddenly felt being pulled into the painting. As it was, he found himself in the Prime Minister's office with a rather silly look on his face. The British Prime Minister did not look happy to see them. Not that Sirius blamed him, he hated when people arrived unannounced on him as well.

"You again," said the Prime Minister, "I thought these meetings were supposed to be rare."

"I apologize," said Barty quickly, "But in the next few weeks, we will be proposing legislation that will affect the non-magical world. We need to brief you quickly, just in case there are… incidents. This is Arthur Weasley, Head of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes..."

"Has there been an accident?" asked the Prime Minister in a startled tone.

"Oh no!" said Arthur hastily, "But the Muggle Liaison office is part of my department. Hence my being introduced to you. This way I can contact you directly rather than have to go through the Minister for Magic every time we need to correspond."

"Not that I anticipate that being necessary," said Crouch, "You seem far less… temperamental than your predecessor."

"And this is?" asked the Prime Minister, pointing at Sirius.

"I am Sirius Black, a member of the Wizengamot and I'm here because I'm sponsoring the legislation that we came to discuss," said Sirius smoothly.

"What legislation?" asked the Prime Minister.

"There is a faction in magical politics that has nothing but contempt for non-magicals and the magical offspring of non-magicals," explained Sirius, "Our law is directed at them. Essentially, it is a civil rights bill, designed to protect your citizens against magical intrusion in their lives, while at the same time reforming the way our own Ministry deals with such contact between the worlds as may occur. There is also a section of the law that pertains to the muggleborns, but as they fall under magical law we won't bother you with the improvements we are making there."

"I don't have a lot of time for this," said the Prime Minister.

"I understand," said Barty Crouch as he pulled out a Time-Turner, "Is there another room we could use?"

Sirius sighed. If he'd known he'd be time-traveling today, he'd have just stayed in bed.

XXXXX

It was on Hermione's birthday that Harriet finally had enough.

Initially, Hermione had seemed to be getting over her anger at whatever had been bothering her, but then she'd received a letter from home. Immediately her tone towards Harriet had turned frosty again. Harriet had her suspicions, but Hermione refused to discuss it with her, so Harriet didn't know what was going on.

The worst part of it all was that Harriet had been so busy! When she wasn't in class or doing schoolwork, Wood had her practicing drills. Harriet, of course, was thrilled to be on the house team, but she immediately saw it was going to be a lot of work. And that seemed to have miffed Hermione as well. That being said, Harriet was able to deal with Hermione's ire. Mostly. She hadn't quite stopped talking to Harriet, she was just always short with her and tended to study on her own. Harriet had no idea what Hermione expected of her.

Things were made worse by Lavender Brown. It had become abundantly clear almost immediately that Lavender and Hermione were not on the same wavelength. Lavender thought Hermione was condescending, while Hermione thought Lavender was petty. Harriet thought that they were both right to a certain extent, though she felt that Hermione was far less critical of Lavender than she would have been before meeting Harriet a year ago. Harriet had managed to shave a few of Hermione's rough edges off at least. She was a lot better at getting along with people, and even Parvati, who was Lavender's best friend, had to admit that Lavender was overreacting.

On Hermione's birthday, Harriet pulled out all the stops. She got up early, got dressed for class and made it downstairs to the Great Hall. She decorated the place setting at Hermione's usual seat with little cards and banners. And she laid her present for the girl in front of her seat.

When Hermione came down to eat her eyes widened in surprise. She smiled at Harriet, the first time she'd done that in a while. Opening her present, Hermione found it was a book on powerful witches throughout history. Harriet wasn't sure she was going to tell Hermione about Morgan yet or not, but Harriet supposed if she figured it out for herself it wouldn't be all bad.

"Thank you, Harriet," said Hermione fervently, "I… well I know we haven't been on the best of terms lately."

"Hey, I have no problem with you," said Harriet, "I'm just puzzled why you're giving me the cold shoulder. What the hell have I done?"

"I guess it isn't fair to be mad at you," said Hermione, who had frowned at Harriet's mild epithet, "I'm just a bit upset you got rewarded for breaking the rules."

"What?" asked Harriet, somewhat puzzled, "Is that what got you upset?"

"I don't think it's right that McGonagall rewarded you for rulebreaking," said Hermione.

"I don't see it that way though," said Harriet, "I got rewarded because I helped out a fellow Gryffindor. In any case, I only broke the rules because Malfoy did first."

"Two wrongs don't make a right," replied Hermione.

"Malfoy broke the rules to hurt another student, I broke the rules to help defend that student. That's a big difference," answered Harriet.

"That is true," said Hermione, "I didn't mean to imply that you had stooped to Malfoy's level.

Harriet sighed. "Let me guess," she said slyly, "your mother thought I needed to be taught a lesson for this."

Hermione nodded glumly. "I agreed with her at first, but it's been pretty lonely without you being around."

"She thinks I'm a bad influence on you," said Harriet. It was something she had noted. Hermione's father was very concerned with Hermione's safety and what others might do to her. But her mother was more concerned with what Hermione would decide to do. As such, her mother tended to be on the lookout for things that might have a negative effect on Hermione's actions. Which she seemed to think Harriet might be.

"Unfortunately, yes," admitted Hermione, "I should have realized this sooner…"

"She's your mother," said Harriet, "You should be able to trust her. You probably can trust her in most things."

"Just not about you apparently," said Hermione glumly.

"Happy birthday Hermione!" said Parvati as she and Lavender walked up.

Hermione smiled in return. They weren't going to be able to deal with this now, at any rate, thought Harriet, but they'd need to come back to this sometime.

XXXXX

Sirius had to admit that now that he knew what Crouch's plan was, it made a lot of sense. As he walked into the courtroom where the Wizengamot was assembling he was starting to get hopeful that he would get a meaningful bill past the Wizengamot. Now if the purebloods would only just behave as they normally did.

Taking his seat, he saw Fudge walk up and sit next to him. Fudge had a vague idea of what was going on, but he hadn't been part of the main planning. Still, he'd be invaluable to wrangling the Wizengamot. He always was.

"I hear you paid the Muggle Prime Minister a visit," said Fudge quietly.

"We didn't exactly keep it a secret," admitted Sirius.

"Risky business that," said Fudge, "If things go south he might decide that the magical world needs oversight."

That was the weapon that Crouch was wielding of course. By telling the Prime Minister about this bill he was not only showing him the steps they planned to take to reduce discrimination against muggles, but they were giving him a window into just how bad that discrimination currently was. If the bill didn't pass as written he'd have ample grounds to try to impose some degree of muggle oversight of the magical world. The legality of that was untested, but it scared the purebloods senseless. Crouch felt that the purebloods would allow the parts of the bill that affected muggles to pass unchallenged given that possibility.

"I think, in retrospect, he's right," said Sirius, "They'll try to neuter the muggleborn side of things."

"You almost sound as if you want them to try," said Fudge.

Sirius grinned. "I'm not going to discuss it here, but I'm betting they make a huge mistake right off the bat."

Bryant Greengrass walked in, with Nott and Malfoy right behind him. Ever since Lucius's fall from grace, Bryant had been the face of the purebloods almost exclusively. He was the only one of them who was even remotely relatable. But the other purebloods weren't all happy about this. Greengrass had been an opponent of You-Know-Who's for the entire war. Under no circumstances would he be willing to help support a revival of the Death Eaters.

The purebloods were all hands on deck today. They knew a big bill was coming down, and Greengrass had been humiliated when he'd failed to amass the votes to stop Sirius' education bill. They weren't going to let that happen again.

It didn't matter. Either they would fall for Sirius' trap or they wouldn't. Public sentiment was in favor of greater muggle and muggleborn rights, but there were always those who cautioned about going 'too far.' Sirius didn't understand how you could go too far in acknowledging people's basic human rights, but he'd left that sort of thinking behind when he'd run away from home. Before then actually.

Albus walked in with Crouch and Amelia behind him. It was clear that they were all ready for trouble. This bill reading would be highly contentious. They had to be ready for about anything.

Crouch's introduction was short and sweet, and he barreled through it quickly. Crouch wasn't one for an excessive ceremony, which Sirius appreciated. Within a couple of minutes, Crouch was calling up Arthur to read the bill. Sirius wished he had muggle popcorn. The anguish on the purebloods' faces would be amazing.

They were mildly annoyed when Arthur announced a registry of enchanted muggle items. That would allow for a lot of common uses of magic that Sirius thought should not be banned. However, it was accompanied by a complete ban on casting harmful spells on muggle objects, and a beefy sentence of 5 years in Azkaban for doing so, minimum. Still, that didn't cause too much consternation. Greengrass himself almost seemed to approve of that measure, though some of the others seemed to be gritting their teeth.

The plan to reduce the number of obliviations muggles were administered sparked an outcry. As far as Sirius was concerned, this was overdue. Repeated obliviations were very dangerous to anyone, but muggles especially. Every obliviation would have to be justified, and if a muggle was working in close contact with wizards and had to be obliviated, it would only happen after they had completed their task. A huge step forward.

The shift over to muggleborns in section 2 was accompanied by angry cries from the purebloods. The complete ban on employment discrimination was nice, and the ban on withholding services also caused great consternation among the purebloods. That all laws would henceforth have to be put to a muggleborn test, to determine that law would not inordinately affect muggleborns without an overriding government interest made them go crazy. And the introduction of new hate crimes laws that would trigger automatic full Wizengamot trials went over just as poorly.

By the end, all the purebloods were screaming in anger. Oh, this had gone far better than Sirius had hoped. Crouch also seemed rather satisfied. Sirius still thought he was an opportunist, using the muggleborn cause to get back at the purebloods without actually caring about muggleborns himself. But that didn't mean he wasn't useful.

The vote went overwhelmingly to advance the bill. Now it would be submitted for comments and amendments. There was still a long road to go, but Sirius felt confident. He guessed that the bill would come to a final vote before the new year.

"They are going to throw everything they have at that bill," said Fudge after they had been dismissed and were in Fudge's office.

"I hope they do," said Sirius.

"Why?" asked Fudge.

"Did you notice the last section?" asked Sirius with a grin.

"I didn't quite understand that," admitted Fudge, "Why was Section 3 referring to some obscure muggle laws?"

"They aren't obscure laws, they're the laws that provide for nondiscrimination in workplaces, housing, and all public accommodations, as well as establishing various other minority rights, " said Sirius, "I'm going to let the purebloods unload on the other sections, limit them, strike them, generally make them feel as if they are winning. Because if this bill passes with that section in there, muggleborns will be classified as a minority group under _British_ law, and they get all those protections automatically."

"You're saying the entire rest of the bill is a ruse!?" asked Fudge incredulously.

"Section 2 is, yes," admitted Sirius, "Section 1 will be passed intact to avoid muggle oversight, Section 2 is meaningless, and section 3 will be passed because none of the purebloods will have any idea what it means until it is too late."

Fudge performed a mock bow for Sirius, then pulled a bottle out from under his desk. "Brilliant! I trust you will inform them of this meaning at some point?"

Sirius grinned as Fudge poured him a drink, "After we've passed the bill? Oh yes, I will."

Fudge poured himself a drink, "To the enlightenment of the purebloods then!" he said as he lifted his glass.

Sirius drank his drink down in one gulp. It went down smooth. Oh yes, they were about to be enlightened all right.

XXXXX

With things with Hermione settled, Harriet was on track for having a very good year. The classes were going smoothly. She was doing well in all her classes (even Potions!) and she was slowly beginning to navigate the Hogwarts environment.

One thing that Harriet had forced herself to take time for was her correspondence with Luna and Ginny. With Luna, it was a regular thing. Harriet honestly felt terrible for the girl. Ginny had kept her word and was spending as much time with the girl as she could, but it wasn't as much as Ginny might have wanted. Molly was being rather clingy as Ginny was the only child she still had at home. Luna at least seemed to be getting a bit more even-keeled about things. Harriet guessed that leaving Luna alone with her father would have been a miniature disaster. Xenophilus Lovegood was a good man, but his flights of fancy sometimes consumed him. Luna needed someone a bit more grounded to keep her head in the real world. Which didn't mean that Luna had given up hunting for her creatures, but she seemed able to pursue other goals as well.

Ginny was having problems with her mother, which was normal for a girl her age. Harriet simply sent her encouragement. Worst of all seemed to be that Ginny was grounded without the boys around to watch her fly. It wasn't fair, but there was no use arguing that with Molly.

Harriet's biggest problem was still her impending decision on pursuing the Grail, along with her other impending decision about whether to expose Morgan's true identity. In a way, those things had become linked. As long as Harriet was uncertain that she could trust Morgan, she didn't feel like she could go after the Grail. She wouldn't risk putting the Grail in the hands of the very witch it had been hidden to protect it from. Yet Harriet desperately wanted to believe her. Harriet was beginning to think she had formed a life debt to Morgan, which could be rather inconvenient if Morgan was trying to trick her.

Once again Harriet considered telling Hermione and Ron. Ron would keep his mouth shut if told something confidential Harriet was sure, but what she wasn't sure of was whether his advice would be helpful. Ron was a typical boy, in that he was all wrapped up in his childlike visions of heroism. He'd probably think Harriet having to fight Morgan would be a fun adventure, as opposed to the terrifying ordeal it actually would be. On the other hand, Hermione might very well turn Morgan in no matter what Harriet said. If Hermione hadn't given her the cold shoulder over the incident in flying lessons Harriet certainly would have told her. As things were she was very reluctant to tell Hermione anything in confidence.

Harriet sighed as she leafed through her potions textbook. She wished Hermione's mother hadn't butted into their friendship like this.

Trying to turn her attention back to her work, Harriet puzzled over something. Harriet had begun to notice patterns in her potions work. Certain ingredients and reagents had certain reliable effects in potions. Yet the Potions textbook didn't cover this. Not only that, but the Herbology textbook didn't cover the individual effects each ingredient caused in potions. It would say 'x is used in the potion' but not what it DID in that potion. This was infuriating to Harriet, as she had noticed a pattern as to what each ingredient did, but had some holes in her analysis. Harriet considered asking Snape what was going on, but she still wasn't certain enough of him to be comfortable with that.

Harriet shook her head. No, she'd have to try to figure this one out by herself.

XXXXX

One of the new educational standards was monthly updates on student grades. But one of the new motivational ideas floated in conjunction with this was to publicly post the top ten students in each class for each year. Harriet was a bit sceptical of the whole thing, but Hermione was thrilled. That was a girl who liked be graded way too much.

Introduction to Evocation was a surprise to Harriet. Hermione, of course, came in first in their year, but Harriet had come in second. That was surprising because Harriet felt that her grasp of the theory was only average, and her spellwork was sloppy. However, McGonagall assured her that the results of her spells were the first-rate. And Harriet was usually the first to cast a spell, aside from the occasional time Hermione got it first. Still, Harriet wondered. Her spellwork was very imprecise, so how was she producing such great results? Out of curiosity, she saw Draco had made the top ten here, but only at number eight.

Magical History was another surprise, though a very positive one. Hermione was again first, Anthony Goldstein in Ravenclaw had taken the second spot, and Harriet was third in her year. Harriet supposed the fact that Remus was her favorite teacher helped out. Draco wasn't on this list, though considering that he had been bragging about how he would write his papers on 'proper pureblood history,' Harriet wasn't shocked.

What was shocking was Herbology. Harriet had only gotten 10th in her class in Herbology. That was still probably an O, but she wasn't a big plant person. That wasn't the shock though. Neither was Hermione coming in first in their year. What was stunning was that Neville Longbottom came in second in their year. And as she thought about it, it made sense. Neville had a green thumb and did well at all things dealing with actually working with the plants. Given that most of their work so far had been theory, Harriet realized that there was a very real chance of Neville catching up with Hermione in this class. Draco was fifth in Herbology, but rumor had it that was only because he was cheating somehow.

But when Harriet had seen the list for defense she almost didn't believe it. But it clearly stated that Harriet Potter was the top of her class in Defense. Hermione had come in second, and Draco was in fourth. But Harriet was the top of her class in a subject. And it felt good.

Astronomy was a class Harriet didn't care about at all. She hadn't placed in the top ten, though Hermione had come in fourth in the class.

Potions were the last class Harriet got grades for. She'd done a respectable 7th in her year for that class. However, she was delighted to see that Hermione was first in the year in Potions, edging out Draco at number 2. Given the sheer amount of favouritism Snape showed the blond ponce, Harriet was thrilled.

Hermione, of course, was upset that she hadn't managed to top every subject (though she wasn't upset at Harriet for beating her in Defense). All in all, though, Hermione seemed to be satisfied that she was at the top of her class. And rather convincingly too.

XXXXX

A week before Halloween, Parvati walked up to Harriet after lunch.

"My sister needs to talk to you and Hermione," said Parvati cryptically, "Now."

Hermione made to protest, but Harriet heard the edge in Parvati's voice. Something was wrong, very wrong.

"All right," said Harriet, giving Hermione a look. The two could almost communicate without words sometimes, and this look said: "Just trust me."

They followed Parvati through the school until they came to an unused classroom. Following her in they saw Padma. But Padma wasn't alone. Daphne Greengrass was there. Harriet didn't know Daphne that well. She was the daughter of Bryant Greengrass, which didn't predispose Harriet to like her, but at least she didn't come from a Death Eater family.

"Daphne has some information for you out of Slytherin," said Padma. Harriet liked Padma, the few times they'd talked. Parvati and Padma might look identical, but personality-wise they were very different. Still, Padma was by far the more sensible one. She also wasn't that fond of Lavender Brown, which showed that she had better sense than her sister.

At thinking that last bit Harriet chided herself. She was trying to give Lavender a chance, but she was the shallowest girl she'd ever met. It was pretty hard to give the girl a fair shake.

"Why would we be interested in Slytherin?" asked Hermione.

"You should be very interested in Slytherin," said Daphne, "as those lists of top students have made you a huge target among some of the bigger pureblood supremacists."

"Oh fun," said Harriet.

"It gets worse," said Daphne, "You need to watch out for Malfoy. He's getting positively unhinged."

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.

"Malfoy came in thinking his father's wealth would guarantee him a place at the top of the Slytherin hierarchy," explained Daphne, "But the reality is that he's been fighting tooth and nail for that spot against Nott. But Malfoy's been behind ever since Potter here showed him up at flying practice. Things took a nosedive when those lists came out. Malfoy was trying in Potions, he was trying hard. As a Slytherin, with Snape in charge of that class, he should have had the top spot locked up. But he got beaten. By a muggleborn. Combine that with the fact that his father's influence is waning, and well, Malfoy is getting very agitated about everything. Not a day goes by that he doesn't rant and rave about how terrible you are Granger, and how he's going to put you in your place."

"I can take care of myself," said Hermione.

"Malfoy's two friends, Crabbe and Goyle? They aren't just friends. They're his gang," explained Daphne, "If he comes for you he won't come alone. At first, I thought he just wanted to prank you or embarrass you. But he keeps talking about violence. Please, be careful."

"I didn't know you cared," said Harriet.

"I don't think violence is an acceptable answer to personal squabbles," said Daphne, "but in any case, letting Draco attack a muggleborn student while the Wizengamot is discussing a muggleborn rights bill would be bad for my father."

"Of course," said Harriet.

"Think what you will of me, but I don't want to see my father humiliated _or_ Hermione attacked," said Daphne.

"Thank you for the warning," said Hermione.

Once Daphne and Padma were gone, Parvati turned to Harriet and Hermione. "So what do we do?" she asked.

"We keep an eye out," said Harriet, "That's all we can do." And no one had anything to say to that.

**Author's Note:** Sorry about the delays, I am hoping to get the updates for this back on track, and the same with Twisted Path. I have been writing Part 4, but the first chapter has numerous flashbacks and things to be staged, so it has been going slowly. Also year 4 of Twisted Path has been requiring more rewrites than I had hoped. I should have another update to Twisted Path out in the next day or so.

One key note, Helen Granger's hostility towards Harriet is going to be a recurring thing. While I don't intend for it to cause problems between Harriet and Hermione on a regular basis, it will be a key factor in a lot of major plot developments later on. Helen is basically the same character she is in Twisted Path, she is more worried about the bad choices Hermione will make than what other people might do to her. Which is why she had a problem with Harriet, she's afraid Harriet will be a bad influence.


	5. Halloween

**Chapter 5: Halloween**

If there was one constant in Harriet's life, it was that whenever things were going smoothly, something would come along to complicate matters. There was one complication Harriet had seen coming, but she wasn't quite sure what to do about it. Simply put, she knew that her two best friends were headed for a rather bad argument, but she honestly didn't know how to stop it.

Hermione had really put herself out there to try and make friends with Ron. She really had. The fact that Harriet had become his friend was probably the main motivator in this, and to some degree they had forged a friendship. But while Harriet had no problem tolerating being bossed around by Hermione, it really grated on Ron. Hermione was trying to help Ron every time, but he just saw her as acting as if she was smarter than him. Of course, Hermione _was_ smarter than Ron, but that wasn't an argument that he would be receptive to, and Harriet couldn't blame him.

Harriet was trying to bridge the gap there, but Hermione just didn't see what she was doing wrong. Harriet was starting to think that Hermione had been overly sheltered by her parents. Every time she criticized people she sounded condescending. Harriet understood that Hermione was just trying to be matter-of-fact about things, but that was not how other people took it.

The worst part was, Hermione was actually starting to enjoy Ron's company, for many of the same reasons Harriet did. Despite Harriet's warnings that Hermione was alienating the boy, she'd come to consider the red-haired boy a friend. Harriet didn't want to know what would happen if Ron blew up at her.

Unfortunately for all of them, when it finally did happen, it happened in about the worst way possible.

XXXXX

"Ugggghhhh," said Harriet as she woke up on the morning of Halloween.

"Wake up!" said Parvati, "It's Halloween. We have the Halloween feast tonight!"

"Oh boy," deadpanned Harriet, "I can't wait."

"What's your problem?" asked Lavender.

"Aside from the fact that this is the anniversary of the death of my parents?" asked Harriet acidly.

Lavender's face went white. "I'm so sorry! I forgot."

"Even with all the commemorations of the end of the last war?" asked Hermione.

"Well, I mean…" stammered Lavender.

"It's all right," said Harriet, "It isn't Lavender's fault that my parent's deaths have become a footnote in the greater history of wizardkind. The Wizarding world treats it as if it was this great miracle, but it wasn't a miracle. It was a sacrifice."

Harriet shook her head, "I don't mean to bring you all down. Halloween is supposed to be a fun holiday. I just get a bit maudlin today."

"No one blames you Harriet," said Fay, "you have every right."

The other girls all nodded.

XXXXX

Things were even worse at breakfast. Apparently Ron was in a sour mood, and he even left breakfast early, never a good sign.

"His mum sent him a letter apparently," Neville confided in Harriet quietly, "She isn't very happy with his grades."

"Don't know why he's letting it get to him," butted in George, who'd been apparently been listening in.

"We got grades about as bad and we never let it get to us," agreed Fred.

"Yeah, but you never let anything get to you, do you?" quipped Harriet, "What do you bet your Mum compared him to Percy or Bill? You know how he hates that."

Harriet felt bad for Ron. No matter how well he did, he would never be able to outdo Bill or Charlie's accomplishments at Hogwarts. But he sure got compared to them when he screwed up! Harriet thought he didn't have the best attitude about it, but she couldn't really blame him for not just shrugging it off.

"Try and keep Hermione from giving him too hard of a time today," said Neville, "I've never really seen him this upset."

XXXXX

Unfortunately Introduction to Evocation was introducing a difficult new spell, the Levitation spell, that very day. And Ron was simply dreadful at it.

"_Wingardium Leviosa_!" he shouted, entirely incorrectly.

"You're a bit off," said Harriet in a friendly tone, "Don't emphasize the sa. And you need a bit more of a smooth swish with a sharp flick at the end of your wand motion. But you are getting closer."

Of course Harriet didn't mention that when she had cast the spell, she had done so even more sloppily than Ron. But it had worked fine for her. She had no idea why this was, but it wasn't something she was going to trot around right now.

Ron nodded, and he did better, though his feather barely budged. His wand motion was still off a bit. With Ron's lack of confidence a minor mistake like that was very telling.

"I'll never get this stupid spell," fumed Ron.

"It isn't that difficult," said Hermione, "watch. _Wingardium Leviosa_!"

And with a perfect swish and flick of her wand she cast the spell perfectly. It was her first attempt.

Ron seemed to fume. "Hey there Ron, you were a lot closer that last time," interjected Harriet, "It's all about getting the right idea in your head. Once it's there it'll be a piece of cake."

Ron nodded angrily, then tried again. After several more attempts he did get it. Harriet breathed easy, thinking she had avoided a disaster.

Once class ended, Harriet realized disaster had just been delayed. Ron was still fuming as the Gryffindors all left class together.

"What was that all about!" shouted Ron once they were out of earshot, "you made me look terrible showing off like that!"

"I was just trying to show you how to do it," said Hermione, "I wasn't trying to show off,"

"Well you did a pretty bad job of it!" roared Ron his face now turning a bit red, "Why don't you just hold off on that stuff from here on out."

"I was just trying to help," said Hermione meekly.

"I don't need your help!" shouted Ron irrationally. Harriet was shocked. He'd obviously been holding in far more than he'd let on.

"Just leave me alone," seethed Ron, "You're such a bother sometimes." Harriet frowned. She understood Ron was upset, but this was going way too far.

"I… I thought we were friends," stammered Hermione.

"Who'd want to be friends with you!" snapped Ron.

There was a noticeable silence, then Hermione burst into tears and ran.

"Too far mate," said Seamus, with Dean and Neville nodding in agreement. Ron turned to Harriet to see all five of the other Gryffindor girls giving him the evil eye.

"You and I are going to be having words later Weasley," said Harriet, barely containing her fury, "I know Hermione can be difficult, but that was just cruel and uncalled for. And… And I am done talking with you right now."

Harriet rushed after Hermione, Parvati and Lavender right behind her, leaving a completely flabbergasted Ron.

XXXXX

Harriet found Hermione in the first floor bathroom crying in one of the stalls.

"Hermione?" she called in.

"Go away!" shouted Hermione back at her.

"Please listen to me Hermione," said Harriet.

"I don't want to hear it!" Hermione sobbed.

Parvati and Lavender ran into the bathroom.

"Hermione?" asked Parvati, "Are you all right?"

"What do you think!" screamed Hermione back at them.

Lavender waved both Parvati and Harriet out of the bathroom. "Maybe we should just leave her alone," said Lavender, "She doesn't sound like she wants to talk right now."

"Why is she taking this so hard?" asked Parvati.

"Before I started going to school with Hermione, she didn't really have any friends at school. They used to tease her mercilessly because she really didn't know how to relate to other students," said Harriet, "It took a lot of Hermione's courage to go out on a limb and try to befriend Ron. And he just blew all that work up in one argument. I could strangle him!"

"Oh, that's terrible!" said Lavender, "If I'd have known that I never would have been so hard on her before."

"You guys can leave, but I'm staying here," said Harriet.

"We can stay for a bit too," said Parvati.

"We have defense really soon, remember," said Lavender.

"Could you explain to Professor Solaire if Hermione hasn't come out by then?" asked Harriet.

Both girls nodded.

All three of them went back into the bathroom. "We're back Hermione," said Harriet.

"Leave me alone!" Hermione shouted.

"No," said Harriet, "We're your friends. So I'm gonna stay here till you come out."

And with that Harriet sat down outside the stall on the bathroom floor. Lavender and Parvati sat down next to her.

XXXXX

About ten minutes after Lavender and Parvati left, Hermione finally called out. "Harriet, you still there?"

"Yep," said Harriet.

"You're going to miss Defense class!" said a horrified sounding Hermione.

"So are you," said Harriet, "at least I thought to send Lavender and Parvati with an excuse."

Hermione paused. "I'm being such a bother to you aren't I?"

"Never," said Harriet.

"It's nice of you to say," said Hermione gratefully, "but you really need to get to class."

"Not till you come out," said Harriet.

"I'm not ready…" said Hermione, trailing off.

"Then I'm staying right here," insisted Harriet.

XXXXX

"Why did Ron have to say all those things?" asked Hermione some time later.

"He's always been insecure," said Harriet, "He constantly gets compared to his older brothers, and he doesn't like being treated as if he's stupid. That being said, he went way further than that excuse will allow."

"I know all that," said Hermione. "I meant why in a more general sense. We were getting along. We were becoming friends. Why did he have to ruin that?"

"He wasn't thinking," said Harriet, "Shame'll do that I guess." She thought back to the story Sirius had told her about how he and her father had tortured Snape, and when her mother had come to defend him Snape had called her a mudblood. This was quite similar. She didn't want to excuse what Ron had done, but Harriet supposed some of the blame rested with Molly Weasley, not that she didn't mean well. But she clearly didn't understand the impact some of her actions had on her son.

"It wasn't your fault," said Harriet forcefully, "Ron could have bitten the bullet and taken it like, well like I do."

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.

"Well I don't like being bossed around either," said Harriet, "but I put up with it from you because, well, you're my best friend. I don't really mind when you do it I guess. It isn't an imposition on me. I think part of me likes having someone keep me in line, as long as it's you. "

"Oh, I see," said Hermione. After a moment she replied, "You're my best friend too Harriet."

"Damned right I am!" shouted Harriet, causing Hermione to giggle.

XXXXX

Some time later, Morgan Solaire walked into the bathroom. "Are you girls all right?" she asked, "Miss Patil and Miss Brown told me what happened."

"I'll be fine," said Hermione from inside the stall, "We had a bit of a talk and a cry, and now I'm starting to feel a bit better."

"That's good," said Morgan, "the Halloween feast will be starting soon. I just wanted you to know that."

"Thanks Professor," said Harriet.

Morgan nodded and walked out. It had been nice of her to check on them, Harriet thought. Still, her visit reminded Harriet of Morgan's claim that she was Morgana. Harriet hadn't brought it up again, but she was no closer to being able to figure out if Morgan was lying or not. Harriet had to admit that she needed help on this one. She almost started to tell Hermione right then, but then shook her head. Hermione had enough on her mind today. Tomorrow.

"Harriet, you need to go to the feast," said Hermione.

"Not without you," said Harriet stubbornly.

"Listen to me, you need to go to the feast and tell all our friends that I'm feeling better," she said decisively, "I don't want to go in front of a bunch of people today, so I'll make my way back to the common room in a bit. But I don't want to come out right now. I look dreadful, and I want to clean up before anyone sees me. But I need a bit of time alone first, I have a few things I need to ponder."

Harriet smiled, "All right, I'll leave if it gets you to come out. But if you aren't in our dormitory when I get up there I'm coming down and breaking this door in!"

"Deal!" said Hermione.

Harriet left the bathroom with a smile on her face. She left so quickly she didn't see the pair of eyes watching the entrance to the bathroom from the dark corner just a ways down the hall.

XXXXX

Hermione waited a few minutes, then she walked out of the bathroom stall she'd been occupying for most of the day. Harriet had really been there for her today. She had to admit that she'd overreacted a bit. Ron was an immature git, but the rest of her friends hadn't done anything to deserve how she'd treated them. She washed her face in the sink. After all the crying she'd done today, it felt good.

She heard footsteps enter the room. "Fine, Harriet, I'll come to the Great Hall…" she started as she looked up.

It wasn't Harriet.

XXXXX

When Harriet arrived the feast was just starting. Harriet sat down between Fay and Neville, across from Parvati and Lavender. Ron was sitting on the other side of Neville, trying to avoid the angry stares coming from the first year girls. He looked rather shamefaced, which was all to the good as far as Harriet was concerned.

"How's Hermione?" asked Neville.

"Better, thank you for asking," said Harriet, "It took a while to get her to a point where she could talk. Before she met me she didn't have a lot of friends. Having someone she thought was a friend speak to her like that was devastating to her."

"I'm right here!" protested Ron.

"I'm aware, Weasley," deadpanned Harriet.

"Haven't you made things bad enough already?" Dean asked Ron, his voice clearly annoyed.

"I'll shut up now," said Ron dejectedly.

"First smart thing he's said all day!" shouted Fred from a few places down the table.

Harriet shot the twins a grin. If she knew them they were going to make Ron miserable for what he'd done to Hermione.

"I do appreciate what you did for Hermione though, Lavender," said Harriet, "I know you two haven't got on well so far."

"Us girls have to stick together against the boys," said Lavender, "Especially clueless boys like Weasley here."

The feast was large and looked delicious. "Hermione doesn't want everyone staring at her," said Harriet as she wolfed down food, "so she's going to go back to the common room after she cleans herself up a bit."

The other girls nodded. It was perfectly reasonable that she wouldn't want to be seen after an entire day of crying.

Suddenly Ron straightened up and looked out over the crowd. Looking over at the Slytherin tables he seemed to be looking for someone.

"That's odd," said Ron, "Malfoy and his goon squad aren't at the Slytherin table."

Harriet dropped her food in mid bite.

"Strange he'd miss a meal," said Seamus, "he doesn't seem the type."

"He does like his creature comforts, doesn't he?" said Ron.

Parvati looked panicked. "Didn't Daphne say that Malfoy was looking for a chance to ambush Hermione?"

"What!?" shouted Ron, his face turning ashen.

Harriet jumped to her feet without a word and ran for the door to the Great Hall. Ron and Parvati were right behind her.

XXXXX

At the head table Albus had noticed some tension in the school today. "Do you know where Miss Granger is Morgan?" he asked as he leaned forward to speak to her. She was two people down so he had to stretch to see her.

"She had a bit of an argument with Mr. Weasley," said Morgan, "She's been rather upset all day."

"Unfortunate," said Albus.

"Draco is not here either," said Severus, his eyes narrowing. Albus's eyes widened. That could be a problem.

At that moment Harriet Potter, Parvati Patil and Ron Weasley leapt to their feet and ran for the door to the Great Hall. Before McGonagall could yell at them the rest of the first years followed suit. Fred and George Weasley managed to intercept Neville briefly as he ran out, and suddenly they were on their feet as well, soon followed by most of the rest of the third years. This soon morphed into a chain reaction where the Gryffindor tables began to quickly empty out.

"I believe that the Gryffindors have a theory as to why Draco is absent," said Morgan, her voice doing a poor job of masking her anger, "They'd better be wrong. Because if they aren't…"

"If they aren't you'll have to beat me to it," said an equally angry McGonagall. Both of the women were already on their feet and following the Gryffindors out.

"Severus, keep the Slytherins in here until further notice!" said Albus, "The last thing we need is lone Slytherins wandering into packs of vengeful Gryffindors!"

Severus nodded. Albus hoped this wasn't what he feared…

XXXXX

Harriet sprinted down the halls to the girls' bathroom, Ron and Parvati barely a step behind her. Charging through the door to the bathroom she saw three figures standing over a fallen Hermione. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy had blood on his hands, and looking at Hermione's face Harriet saw it was covered in blood as well.

Harriet didn't wait. She charged Malfoy. She heard spells going off behind her, saw Crabbe and Goyle recoil and fall as whatever Ron and Parvati had done struck home. But all she cared about was Malfoy. Pulling back her arm, she threw a punch at his shocked, arrogant face. There was a satisfying crunch of bone and cartilage as Harriet's fist impacted Malfoy's nose. Malfoy staggered back.

Harriet drew her wand, and for a second she began to draw in power. She started thinking of the most violent thing she could do to Malfoy. Within moments Harriet was brimming with power, ready to smite this arrogant pureblood ass from the face of the planet.

"Harriet?" shouted Parvati quizzically. And then the moment passed. Harriet brutally suppressed her rising power. Simply unleashing her power could kill Malfoy! She couldn't go that far, and she wouldn't.

That didn't mean that she was done with Malfoy. She punched him in the stomach with a roar of anger, then hit him again and again and again. The boy began sobbing as Harriet continued to punch him and he slid down the wall. With a final scream, Harriet kicked Malfoy in the stomach, then fell to her knees on the floor next to Hermione.

"Hermione! Hermione! Speak to me!" she begged. Hermione's face was covered in blood and all puffy.

Hermione smiled a tiny bit. "Nice punch," she said, her mouth choked with blood.

Morgan and McGonagall ran into the room. McGonagall looked shocked, but Harriet saw Morgan glaring daggers at Malfoy. Outside Harriet could see many other Gryffindors staring in.

"Help is here Hermione," said Harriet on the verge of tears, "You're going to be all right."

XXXXX

Sirius Black was getting ready to turn in. Halloween was always a tough day for him, but with both Remus and Harriet at Hogwarts this one was worse than normal. Still, he'd managed to keep himself together. Harriet would be proud, he had somehow managed to avoid drinking himself into a stupor.

So when the Floo flared up, Sirius was surprised. Who could be calling him at this hour? But when no face emerged from the flames, he realized that someone was coming through. There was a very short list of people who could floo directly into Sirius's home, and neither of those people should be doing so tonight.

Remus stepped out of the fire, his face grim.

"Has something happened to Harriet?" asked Sirius immediately.

"No," said Remus, "Harriet is fine. But Hermione was attacked by Draco Malfoy earlier this evening. The school's in chaos. McGonagall has her hands full with the aftermath, so I volunteered to ask you if you could contact the Grangers and send them on to Hogwarts."

"Is she all right?" asked Sirius.

"Her injuries are serious, but not life threatening," said Remus as he braced for a joke from his friend.

"I'm not about to make a joke about _this_ Remus," said Sirius, his voice hurt, "Dumbledore wants me to bring the Grangers to Hogwarts?"

"Yes," said Remus, "Obviously the DMLE is getting involved and Dumbledore thinks the Grangers need to be involved in their daughter's questioning."

Sirius nodded. "I will fetch them directly."

XXXXX

Helen Granger was sitting down and reading before going to bed when she heard the knock at the door. It was a rather urgent sounding knock. She got up quickly, only to meet Robert at the door. Robert opened the door to reveal Sirius Black.

"Sirius!" Robert said, his voice betraying his surprise, "What brings you here at this time of night?"

"Hermione has been in an incident at Hogwarts," said Sirius, "I don't have a lot of details, but she's been attacked. Dumbledore wants me to get you to Hogwarts immediately."

"Attacked!" said Helen as fear began to claw at her, "How?"

"I don't know," said Sirius, "All I know is that she has serious, but not life threatening injuries. The Floo has been set up so that I can send you to Hogwarts. Please follow me."

Helen followed Sirius, her head full of scenarios, each worse than the last.

XXXXX

Harriet paced up and down outside the infirmary door. She had made it quite clear that she wasn't going to leave until she heard some news about what had happened to her friend, one way or the other. McGonagall had seemed to be a bit peeved by that, but Morgan had nodded approvingly.

Ron was there as well, though he hadn't said anything to her. He just sat against the wall looking miserable. Harriet doubted Hermione would want to see him tonight, but it was clear that Ron now regretted his earlier outburst enormously. She almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

"C'mon give us something!" muttered Harriet angrily.

"It's all my fault," said Ron out of nowhere, "It's my fault she was in that bathroom."

Harriet sighed exasperatedly. "Ronald Weasley, I am still very mad at you, but this was not your fault. Malfoy would have found another opportunity. This is his fault and his fault alone."

Harriet heard what she had just said then shook her head. She needed to keep that in mind as well. Part of her screamed that she never should have left Hermione, but she knew that was nonsense. She couldn't be Hermione's bodyguard around the clock.

"Listen, I get that you're worried about Hermione, and I am too," said Harriet, sitting down next to Ron, "She's our friend, and it's natural for us to be dealing with this badly. But we need to keep a clear head, and not blame ourselves. She's going to need us."

"I didn't mean all those things I said to her," said Ron, "But after my mum's letter I was just feeling so inadequate and ashamed. I shouldn't have taken it out on Hermione though."

"What's your issue with your mum?" asked Harriet.

"Well I was always the last to get things before, when we didn't have any money," said Ron, "But ever since things got better for us financially, her standards have gone way up. It isn't like she wasn't trying to get us to be our best before I guess, but it's more that I keep getting compared to bloody Percy. I like Percy fine, but that's a lot to live up to. And I feel like I never have anything of my own to contribute, especially since everything has already been done by one or another of my brothers. But now it's like she expects me to live up to them, and I'm not sure that I can."

Harriet wasn't surprised by this. She'd suspected much of it. That Ron felt that he couldn't live up to his brothers because they'd already done everything worth doing was not something she'd seen though.

"I'm sorry," said Harriet, "I don't really know what that's like to be honest. Still it can't be easy to be the sixth of six boys."

"You think she'll forgive me?" asked Ron. Harriet knew he wasn't referring to Molly.

"Eventually," said Harriet, "If you show her you really regret it."

"I do, I definitely…" started Ron, but he broke off as two people came charging into view. The last two people Harriet wanted to see. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Both Harriet and Ron leapt to their feet.

"YOU!" roared Lucius angrily as he marched over to the door to the infirmary, "You hurt my boy!" Harriet noted that his hand was on his wand.

Harriet reached into her pocket and grasped her runestone. If she went for her wand, it might start a fight, but she wasn't about to stand in front of this man unarmed.

"That's right," she said, "I broke his nose as he stood over my friend, with her blood on his hands. And I'd do it again. He's lucky I didn't do worse."

"How dare you…" started Lucius, drawing his wand.

Narcissa cut him off. "What do you think you are doing?! The last thing we need is to have you getting into a fight with an eleven year old girl. And Harriet Potter at that!" Narcissa seemed rather exasperated.

Suddenly the hall outside the infirmary was full as Dumbledore and Amelia Bones arrived from one direction, and Sirius arrived with Morgan, McGonagall, and the Grangers from the other.

"Lucius, please tell me you haven't drawn your wand on my goddaughter," said Sirius dangerously.

Lucius immediately put his wand away. "A misunderstanding," he said.

"A rather grave one, for you to be waving your wand at an 11 year old witch," said Amelia disapprovingly.

"What are you here for Amelia?" asked Lucius.

"I'm here to investigate whether the DMLE will be pressing charges against your son," said Amelia.

"What about charges against Potter!" seethed Lucius, "She attacked my son!"

"All evidence indicates that Harriet acted in defense of Miss Granger," said Amelia, "And even if that were not the case, a student getting into a fair fight on Hogwarts grounds would not be a matter for the DMLE. Two students holding down a muggleborn girl while the son of a prominent pureblood house beats her however…"

The door to the infirmary opened, and Madam Pomfrey and Severus Snape walked out.

"Miss Granger had serious injuries, but luckily they were just in my ability to deal with using standard healing spells," said the school nurse, "Consequently, I did not require Professor Snape's expertise. All of her injuries have been seen to, and she should be fully healed by tomorrow. Mr. Malfoy's injuries were far less serious, a broken nose and some minor bruises in the abdominal area. That being said he put up such a fuss that Hermione insisted I see to him first, just to get him to be quiet. His injuries are healed, and I will release him momentarily."

Lucius grimaced at the description of his son's behavior. Narcissa's eyes seemed to get tight as well. Harriet was outright grinning though. Hermione had taken a leaf from her book and was deliberately making Draco look like a spoiled brat.

Snape had gone back into the infirmary, and moments later he returned with Draco in tow. Harriet didn't even deign to look at him, though Ron glared at him angrily.

"What's your problem Potter?" spat Draco.

"Draco! I told you to be silent!" snapped Snape.

"You will obey Professor Snape absolutely and to the letter Draco," said Lucius sternly, "You will not speak until we give you leave."

With that dealt with, Snape led the Malfoys away towards the dungeons.

"What were you doing trying to start a fight with Lucius Malfoy like that!" shouted Sirius as soon as the Malfoy's were out of earshot.

"He threatened me! And besides, I had my runestone," said Harriet. "If necessary I could have just lashed out with my power again."

Sirius looked pained at that. McGonagall and Dumbledore looked aghast. Amelia Bone's merely lifted one eyebrow while Morgan smiled slightly.

"Harriet, you must not simply unleash your magic on someone, not unless the situation is truly desperate," said Dumbledore, "There is no way to know what sort of magic would emerge, not until you understand what you are doing better."

"Madam Pomfrey is it?" asked Helen Granger, "We would like to see our daughter if it is convenient."

The school nurse looked as if she was going to object, then shook her head. "Of course, I understand. You can't all see her though," she said.

"My husband and I," said Helen before pausing.

"From the sound of it, it seems Harriet has a right to see how Hermione is doing as well," she finished in resignation.

Pomfrey nodded, "Hermione was quite clear that she wanted to see her before she went to bed. I suppose it can't hurt at this point."

"Tell Hermione I'm sorry," said Ron.

"I will escort Ronald back to the Gryffindor dormitory." said McGonagall.

"The rest of us will retire to my office," said Dumbledore, "the Grangers will meet us there when they are finished. Harriet, I will consider what you said about unleashing your magic. I'm not angry at you, but you may require some special training to deal with your abilities."

Harriet nodded.

Harriet and the Grangers entered the infirmary, and Madam Pomfrey quickly led them to a bed that was on the far side of the room. Hermione was laying there. When she saw her parents her face lit up.

"Mum! Dad!" she cried as her parents ran over to her and hugged her, "What are you doing here? Not that I'm complaining!"

After they were done hugging, Robert sat down in a chair next to the bed. "Sirius brought us here," he said.

"How are you feeling?" asked Helen.

"A little sore still," admitted Hermione, "But that should pass in a couple of days. Luckily Harriet stopped them before they managed to really get started on me, though what they did was bad enough. Nice work on Draco's nose by the way. I swear he was crying more about his broken nose than I was about being beaten bloody all over."

"Your teeth look a bit different," said Helen suddenly.

"Yeah, Draco kicked me in the teeth, and Madam Pomfrey had to do some minor repairs. She may not have repaired them quite the way they were," said Hermione evasively.

Helen gave Hermione a look, as if to say she knew exactly what she had done, but she said nothing.

"Harriet was brilliant though," said Hermione, "Ron went off on me earlier and, well I'm afraid I didn't take it very well. Harriet stayed by my side all day though. And you are not responsible for this just because you left Harriet."

"I know," said Harriet.

Hermione nodded, "But then she beat the bloody stuffing out of Malfoy!" she said with a giggle.

"Hermione!" said her mother scoldingly.

Harriet on the other hand was smiling. Hermione wasn't really comfortable swearing, even as mildly as she just had. No, she'd done that to show Harriet she was going to stand up for her, regardless of what her parents thought.

"Bloody right I did," said Harriet, "And I'd do it again."

Hermione beamed.

"You should know, Ron thinks he's responsible for Draco's attack," said Harriet.

"Idiot," said Hermione, "Tell him that he has enough to blame himself for without taking that on."

"Already did," said Harriet, "But I'll pass it along from you. He's, uh, pretty upset at what he did."

"Good," said Hermione before she sighed, "He wants to apologize doesn't he?"

"He does, but there is no reason not to make him sweat a few days," said Harriet.

Hermione grinned. "Good idea."

"Mum," she said suddenly as she turned to her mother, "Harriet is my best friend. Please stop trying to sabotage that. As you can see, she's only interested in what's best for me."

Helen smiled. "I see that dear."

XXXXX

"Under no circumstance are you to do anything but immediately prepare for and go to bed," said Snape to Draco as he stood outside the Slytherin Common room, "When you get up in the morning you will immediately report to my office."

"Yes sir," said Draco.

"You are dismissed," said Snape sternly. He had very little use for this sort of mindless bigotry. He couldn't believe that he had once allowed himself to believe that these sort of activities were justified.

As Draco left, Lucius shook his head. "Where did I go wrong there? For my boy to show such a lack of subtlety. To lose the comport that goes with being a pureblood, with being a Malfoy," Lucius paused as he grimaced, "I must admit, I have not been the best role model."

Remembering the anti-muggle rant Lucius had given in the Wizengamot, Snape had to agree. Not that he'd ever say as much to Lucius. And not that he didn't find Lucius' pomposity annoying.

"Lucius, this will be used against you, no matter how it goes," said Snape.

"It might be for the best to transfer Draco to Durmstrang," said Narcissa, "I know I didn't want him to go there before, but now…"

"No," said Lucius, "I am on the Board of Governors for this school. I am a member of the Wizengamot. We will fight this."

Snape said nothing. If Lucius wanted to guarantee the passage of Sirius's Muggle and Muggleborn Civil Rights act let him.

Much as it did gall Snape to let Sirius have a victory.

**Author's**** Note:** Not exactly a fun chapter, but it sets up a lot of what is to come in this story. I amped up the Ron/Hermione conflict a bit to make it clear they aren't really going to be interested in each other. The next chapter will deal with the aftermath of Draco's attack, which will actually have lasting repercussions for Magical Britain in general.


	6. The Trials of Draco Malfoy

**Chapter 6: The Trials of Draco Malfoy**

Sirius walked into Amelia Bones' office on the morning of November 1st. She was already closeted with Barty Crouch. That was a good sign.

"Sirius," said Crouch grimly, "What business do you have here today?" Crouch had a slight edge to his voice. Sirius could understand. He had a tendency to be a rather disruptive force after all, but he wasn't here for that today.

"I have been appointed the representative of the Grangers in the matter of the assault upon their daughter," said Sirius, "That should make things a bit simpler."

Crouch nodded, his visage lightening somewhat. "That's good news at least," he said.

"Is the Ministry intending to charge Mr. Malfoy?" asked Sirius.

"I still need to speak to Hermione, Harriet, and a few others," said Amelia, "but given what information we collected just from the teachers' accounts, unless we get a very different story from the students I think we have more than enough to make a case."

"If Lucius is smart he'll take a plea and let the Ministry expel Draco," said Sirius, "He could be enrolled in Durmstrang without much fuss and he'd avoid prison."

"My understanding is that Lucius intends to fight this," said Amelia.

"Intends to try to buy his way out of this more like," said Crouch sourly.

"Could this be heard in front of the full Wizengamot?" asked Sirius.

"Try a case involving an underage wizard in front of the full Wizengamot?" asked Crouch incredulously, "No thanks, I'd like to finish my term as Minister. The press would eat me alive!"

"My civil rights bill has provisions for just that…" began Sirius.

"Your civil rights bill is not law yet," said Crouch, "But if Lucius bribes a juror on a six man jury to get his son off the hook for viciously attacking a young muggleborn girl, it is pretty much guaranteed to become law. And he only needs to bribe one person."

Sirius grimaced. Six man juries were the foundation of the British Magical Judiciary. They were staffed by Wizengamot members on a rotating basis. The advantage was that you didn't have to call a full session of the Wizengamot to hold a trial. The 'disadvantage' was that all verdicts on these juries had to be unanimous. It wasn't really a disadvantage of course; Sirius considered it a strength of the system. Still, for serious crimes the full Wizengamot still had to be used. And Sirius considered this such a crime.

"Again Minister, I cannot stress enough how much I oppose this course of action," said Amelia, "Miss Granger deserves justice."

"Do you think I like this?" said Crouch wearily, "The Malfoy boy has a right to a jury trial if he requests one. Unless the jury is made up entirely of Lucius' political enemies, he will be able to bribe at least one juror. I can't do anything about that."

"The full Wizengamot only requires a majority vote," said Sirius, "We could explain why it was necessary to the press. There's no need to simply hang Hermione out to dry."

"But if we let Lucius rig the process, we will _demonstrate_ why it is necessary," said Crouch, "Listen Sirius, I understand you are fond of the girl, but you need to think about this objectively, not emotionally."

"Caring about justice for a young girl is not being overly emotional!" argued Sirius angrily, "It is just what a normal person would do!"

"And all the other normal people will soon see what a miscarriage of justice this is," said Crouch.

Sirius wished he could say he didn't believe what was happening, but he could. Crouch had only ever cared about this bill as a means to hurt the former Death Eaters. Still, Sirius couldn't allow something like this to happen unchallenged. Crouch might not realize it, but he'd just destroyed the working relationship between him and Sirius again.

"Very well," said Sirius, "But understand this: this will have consequences."

"Is that a threat?" asked Crouch.

"No Barty, I'm not threatening you," said Sirius, "But nonetheless the consequences will come. I couldn't stop them if I wanted to."

Barty nodded. He understood political fallout. One either survived it or not.

That left Sirius with a rough task. How was he going to explain this to the Grangers?

XXXXX

Harriet trundled into the infirmary, her arms full of Hermione's books and clothes. Setting them down next to Hermione's bed, she saw her friend smile at her warmly.

"Thanks a lot Harry, I know it's a bit of a bother," said Hermione.

"No, I'm happy to do it," Harriet replied quickly, "I, uh, did a quick cleaning charm on your charms book. It, well…"

"It was covered in my blood you mean?" said Hermione, "I am well aware of what happened to me yesterday Harry, you don't need to dance around it."

"Okay," said Harriet. She wasn't so sure Hermione was all right yet, but there was nothing she could do but keep an eye on her.

They heard the door to the infirmary open, and Headmaster Dumbledore entered, followed by Morgan.

"How are you doing today Miss Granger?" asked the headmaster.

"Better," she said, "I'm a bit stiff, but I'm otherwise feeling fine."

"Excellent," said Dumbledore, "I'm glad you seem to have avoided permanent injury. I was hoping to speak to Miss Potter, and I guessed she would be here. If I might have a moment?"

"Is there any reason Hermione can't hear what you have to say?" said Harriet.

Dumbledore shrugged. "I suppose not, it is simply not my habit of talking about private matters in front of other students," he said genially, "I wanted to talk about your attempts to use raw magic. Some of the students seemed to think you were going to cast some sort of spell on Draco yesterday. Were you trying to use raw magic on him as well?"

"I considered it," said Harriet honestly.

The headmaster nodded. "Understandable, given the circumstances. However, it is vital you understand that this is very dangerous."

"The problem isn't that you don't know that, though," asked Morgan, "You've always known how dangerous this is, isn't that right Harriet?"

Harriet nodded a bit sheepishly.

"The problem is that you tend to see every uncertain situation as one in which you might need to use potentially lethal force," said Morgan, "Now, neither the Headmaster or I want to discourage you from being vigilant, as there are indeed people who wish you harm. But, I think the ordeal you went through with your uncle has affected you deeply, and caused you to have extreme reactions to situations where you are dealing with people you don't trust."

"I don't…" started Harriet, but she stopped herself and considered this. Maybe they were right. Certainly she was far more wary of people now than she had been before her uncle had started abusing her. It was hard to tell though. From the point of view of an eleven year old, what she was like when she was eight was a lifetime ago.

"Maybe you are right, I don't know," admitted Harriet.

Both Dumbledore and Morgan smiled at her.

"That is a very mature thing to admit," said Morgan.

"We would like to have you spend some time with Professor Sprout," said Dumbledore, "She has received training on how to deal with this sort of trauma, and is very good at setting the minds of her students at ease. Hopefully she can help you develop healthy ways to channel your anxiety, and show you how to control your fear and anger."

"That sounds like a good idea," Harriet agreed.

"Have you given any thought to what you are going to do about searching for the Grail?" asked Morgan.

"As time goes on, I am more and more opposed to it," said Dumbledore, "We do not know what traps the Founders left in wait for you."

"Strange, as time goes on, I think it is more and more imperative," said Harriet, "the Founders certainly thought it was important."

"Those long dead do not always have the best view of a situation in order to determine the best course of action," said Dumbledore.

"And your advice?" Harriet asked Morgan.

"As before, I would urge you to listen to the Headmaster," said Morgan, "But if you decide otherwise, I will, of course, do my best to help you."

"I haven't made up my mind 100 percent," said Harriet, "So I'm still open to what you are saying. In any case, I've decided to wait until the holidays to make a decision."

"Very well," said Dumbledore, "Now Amelia Bones will be here in a moment. I would ask for you to leave so that Hermione can answer her questions."

"Of course," said Harriet, who gave Hermione a brief hug, and then made her way out the door to the infirmary. Morgan followed her out.

As they walked towards the Great Hall, Harriet spoke up. "You were very angry last night," she said carefully.

"I have no use for that sort of pureblood bigotry, and Hermione is one of my favourite students," replied Morgan.

"I don't think I'm going to tell Dumbledore about what you said to me yet," said Harriet, "But I think I'm going to tell Hermione soon. If she decides to talk, well, I won't stop her. I trust her. I don't think she will though."

"You mean to go ahead with the search then?" asked Morgan, "Did you just lie to the Headmaster?"

"Not a lie," said Harriet, "But there's nothing wrong with getting ready. If I'm going to hunt for the Grail, I want Hermione at my side."

XXXXX

Sirius sat down in an armchair in the Grangers' living room. He had to admit, it was fairly comfortable. Far more comfortable than the rather formal furniture his mother had stocked their home with in his childhood. Sirius made a note to himself that he should replace some of the furniture.

"So what is going on now?" asked Robert. He and his wife were sitting on a sofa together, across from Sirius.

"Draco has been confined to the Slytherin common room for the time being," said Sirius, "Amelia has interviewed many of the students. She is likely going to file charges against Draco tomorrow."

"Good," said Helen.

"What happens then?" asked Robert.

"Normally, for something that happened at Hogwarts and is so clear cut, the student would plead guilty and the DMLE would give a punishment," said Sirius, "This is common for crimes of underage wizards. For a crime this severe, Draco would likely be expelled from Hogwarts, but he'd be free to attend another school. He would probably not serve any prison time. However…" Sirius trailed off. He really didn't want to have to explain this.

"However?" asked Robert.

"Despite the clear evidence of Draco's guilt, Lucius has indicated that he won't plead, which means this will go to trial, where Draco could get prison time," said Sirius.

"But he could also get off completely," said Helen with a frown.

Sirius nodded. "Unfortunately yes, " he said, "And the fact is that Lucius has proven his willingness to bribe jurors before. Maybe we'll get very lucky with the jury selection, but it is very likely that at least one member of the jury will be an unaffiliated Wizengamot member."

"Or a pureblood?" asked Helen.

Sirius shook his head, "Ordinarily you'd be right, but it's bad political timing for the purebloods on the Wizengamot right now. They'd convict in a second to show that the current system to protect innocent muggleborns works. No, it's the unaffiliated who are willing to sell their votes."

"Is there no way to prevent that?" asked Robert.

"We could try Draco before the full Wizengamot," said Sirius, "It only requires a majority vote to convict there, so Lucius would have to bribe at least twenty or so people, and even then there are no guarantees that he can get enough purebloods to vote for acquittal. But the Minister would be the only one who could call for that, and he has refused."

"Why?" asked Helen.

"There are a large number of political considerations," said Sirius, "There is a piece of legislation I helped write that would force cases like this to be heard before the full Wizengamot as hate crimes. Crouch believes that by allowing Lucius to bribe his way out of this we can prove that the law needs to be reformed and drum up sympathy for the bill. I tried to get him to reconsider, but he's been rather stubborn about it."

"So he's just abandoning Hermione?" asked Robert angrily.

"I am afraid so," said Sirius, "Still, even if Draco is found not guilty, the Board of Governors may still move to expel Draco. It will be difficult, as Lucius Malfoy is on the Board of Governors, but he alone can't save his son. The Board has long had a policy of listening to the recommendations of the Hogwarts staff regarding these matters."

"Couldn't he bribe them as well?" asked Helen.

"The members of the board are mostly fairly well off," said Sirius, "It's unlikely that they could be bought, though Lucius might blackmail or threaten them. The board is a very selective group, and you don't get on unless you have a vested interest in the running of Hogwarts, as opposed to the Wizengamot where heredity or money can often get you a seat. The elected seats also attract politician types, who are often willing to forgo principles for money. Still, there may be enough people on the Board who sympathize with Lucius politically."

"So what you are saying is that the magical government is completely corrupt," said Helen.

"Yes," admitted Sirius, "I'll do what I can for you, but you need to be prepared for what may happen."

"Thank you for being honest with us," said Robert, "I know this must be difficult for you to admit."

"On the contrary," said Sirius, "I have been aware of the shortcomings of magical society for years. It's why I'm so involved in the Wizengamot. Someone needs to do something about it."

Robert and Helen nodded. Oh, how Sirius wanted to strangle Crouch right now! At least this looked like it was the last nail in the coffin of Lucius' political career. That man would never be a power in the purebloods again after what he was about to do to them.

XXXXX

Harriet crawled into bed, absolutely exhausted. After the events of the last two days she was just wiped out. She'd tried to be as matter-of-fact as possible to Amelia when she'd been interviewed today, but ultimately she'd still managed to work herself up into a tizzy remembering what Draco had done. She'd been alternating between rage and disgust all day, and she hadn't even seen Draco.

The mood in the school had gotten very ugly. Pretty much every house was now ostracizing the Slytherins. The Gryffindors were openly looking for chances to get into altercations with them. Hermione herself had begged the other Gryffindors to stop it, but she'd had little success. It was like all the little slights and conflicts of the past had been dredged up, and now the whole school was going crazy.

The first year Gryffindor girls had done their best to keep Hermione out of the limelight, at times physically preventing people from following her with their bodies. The boys had also been protective of her. Ron had nearly pummeled Nott for making a joke about the whole incident.

Actually, Harriet had to admit that Nott was acting rather smug. Draco had probably hurt the Slytherins enough that none of them were willing to listen to him anymore. That likely meant that Nott was running the show in the house of Snakes now, at least for the first years. Harriet wasn't sure it was a big improvement.

All in all, it had been an eventful day, and Harriet was glad that it was over. The other girls in the first year dormitory had all made a bit of a fuss at Hermione being back, and even Lavender had been friendly. Harriet was hopeful for Hermione, but she recognized that Hermione hadn't even begun to fully process what had happened to her.

Suddenly, Harriet felt someone by her bed. "Harriet, scoot over," said the voice of Hermione.

Harriet moved over to let Hermione lay down beside her.

"Is everything all right?" Harriet whispered.

"I just… I want some company," said Hermione softly, "No one has ever hurt me like that before. Even if I know it isn't likely to happen again, it's a bit scary."

"I know what you mean," replied Harriet still whispering, "I know my Uncle Vernon is in prison, but I still have nightmares about him sometimes."

Hermione wrapped her arms around Harriet, pulling her close. "I didn't mean to dredge up bad memories," she apologized.

"That's all right, now we just have one more thing in common." said Harriet regretfully, "Even if it is rather shitty."

Hermione giggled. "Mind if I stay here tonight?"

Harriet smiled, "Not in the least," she replied.

XXXXX

McGonagall knew well enough that Hermione was likely to be having a few rough nights. So she'd made sure to check on her that evening. She'd silently entered the first years girls' dormitory, only to discover Hermione's bed empty. She quickly found her in Harriet's bed however.

She shouldn't have worried. Hermione was clearly in good hands.

XXXXX

The trial of Draco Malfoy went exactly as Sirius feared.

Both Harriet and Hermione were superb witnesses for the prosecution. Sirius had brought them to the Ministry from Hogwarts personally. He knew this was going to be difficult on them, but Hermione had insisted. If one of the jurors was going to vote to acquit Draco, at least they'd have to look Hermione in the eye while doing it.

They'd both performed better than Sirius could have hoped. Hermione's rather direct and fact filled account of being accosted in the girls bathroom was devastating in its honesty and poignancy. Harriet's barely contained anger also was impressive. Several of the jurors actually seemed a bit intimidated by her, and there weren't many eleven year old girls who could intimidate a member of the Wizengamot.

Madam Pomfrey's testimony was also devastating. The full tale of Hermione's injuries was shocking. Dozens of broken bones, contusions, and lacerations. The full scale of it made Sirius sick. Draco was very lucky Pomfrey wasn't on this jury, as she looked as if she wanted to inflict the same on him.

But when the verdict had come back it was five for guilty, one for not guilty. Upon hearing the verdict, Hermione had mustered every bit of dignity she had in standing up and walking out of the courtroom. Harriet had glared daggers at the man who had voted to acquit as she followed. That man, a backbencher named Weathers, had probably just ended his career in the Wizengamot. He was elected, but there was no way the man who had obviously just taken a bribe was getting re-elected.

Sirius did note the reaction from those purebloods who had come to observe. Every one of them was staring daggers at Lucius Malfoy, who was celebrating with his son, oblivious. Sirius walked over to Bryant Greengrass.

"I don't often feel sorry for you," he said, "But that is a case of monumental stupidity down there."

"He's doing what he thinks he has too," said Bryant, "But so will we. Looks like you're going to get your damned law. Was it worth it?"

"I wanted this tried before the full Wizengamot," said Sirius "I would never have put my bill before Hermione's safety and happiness."

"Crouch really messed with you there, didn't he?" said Greengrass calculatingly.

"Perhaps," said Sirius, refusing to rise to the bait, "But I'll deal with that in due time."

Sirius left the courtroom to find Hermione. He found her and Harriet on an upper level in the Atrium, sitting on a balcony with their legs dangling looking out over the fountain.

"You all right?" he asked Hermione.

"Well enough," said Hermione, "It's not as if we didn't know it was going to happen."

She looked out across the atrium at the fountain. It depicted the Ministry's 'benevolence' towards non-human magical creatures.

"The Ministry, all of this, it's all a lie," muttered Hermione angrily.

"Much of it is, yes," admitted Sirius, "Some of us are trying, and things are better than they were, but it is still a struggle to make a better world. Part of it is, we have to make people better, and that is hard, and harder the older someone gets."

"But the struggle is worth it," said Sirius as he crouched next to Hermione, "You have to believe me, it is worth it."

Hermione smiled. "Thanks Sirius," she said gratefully.

"Oh not you too!" said Sirius in mock outrage, "When will I get the respect I deserve from you children. Sirius indeed!"

The girls laughed. And for one moment, they could forget what had just happened.

XXXXX

"We don't have the votes to expel Draco," said Snape bluntly.

Dumbledore looked up from reading the latest story in the Daily Prophet. They certainly were outraged at the outcome of Draco's trial. A pity this outrage was so selective. There were plenty of times since the war with Grindelwald that some general outrage in the press could have done wonders for magical Britain.

"What makes you think so?" Albus asked calmly.

"Malfoy and the elder Nott will vote against, but so will Doge and his group. You know how much Doge hates expelling students," said Snape.

"You think Selwyn will vote against expulsion?" asked Dumbledore.

"I think he may," admitted Snape, "And that is a real problem. He can dangle the promise of his vote out in exchange for a favour."

Dumbledore hadn't even thought about Doge. The man was one of Dumbledore's greatest supporters. He had simply assumed Doge would support anything Dumbledore put forward. Those sorts of assumptions were dangerous, the sign of a weakening mind. Dumbledore needed to be careful there.

Selwyn on the other hand, was a pureblood, but he valued his position and status above all else. He no longer held a seat on the Wizengamot, (his father had lost his seat over support for Grindelwald, and the Wizengamot had not seen fit to restore it since), so the Board of Governors was his only chance to flex his influence. He'd long been trying to limit Dumbledore's powers as Headmaster.

"Lucius has fallen far," said Dumbledore, "It is unlikely that he has any influence or power that would interest Selwyn."

"At the same time, Selwyn would be very willing to help out a fellow pureblood under normal circumstances," said Snape, "I don't think we can make assumptions about him. If he's going to sully his reputation by doing this he will want something, but Lucius may have something of value to offer."

"I doubt Selwyn would take a bribe," said Dumbledore.

"He wouldn't take a bribe of money, no," said Snape, "Lucius still has a large collection of art and dark artifacts."

"That is a problem," admitted Dumbledore.

"I had a suggestion," said Snape, "though I admit it is less than ideal."

"Should we abandon all pretense of justice for Miss Granger then?" asked Dumbledore. Snape's idea had some merit. It offered the best hope of helping Draco break free of his father. But the cost…

"I will consider and see what I can do," said Snape.

"Thank you Severus," said Dumbledore. Surely there was another way?

XXXXX

"That was a disaster," said Harriet. Hermione nodded in agreement. Things were clearly spiraling out of control. They were sitting outside on a hillside, looking out at the lake. Neither of them had much wanted to be in Gryffindor Tower right now.

"What are you talking about, you won!" said Ron excitedly.

True to her word Hermione had finally started talking to Ron again a few days after Halloween. He'd made a fairly effusive apology, no doubt helped along by the rather angry letter he'd received from home. Luckily for everyone, the twins had convinced Percy that perhaps another letter from Molly wasn't going to help matters, so Percy had specifically requested that Arthur be the one to chastise Ron. Arthur's letter had been quite angry, but it had not set off Ron like Molly's last letter did.

Of course, he was still immature about things. Like Quidditch. The Gryffindor/Slytherin match had been a shambles, even more than usual. The Slytherins had a history of using dirty tactics and attempting to injure the Gryffindor players. Unfortunately for them, the mood of the entire school was against them, and when they'd committed their first foul the Gryffindors immediately started playing just as dirty in return. Fred had 'passed' one of the Bludgers towards George, but somehow George didn't see that and dodged it at the last second, causing the bludger to slam into Montague instead and crippling his arm. Marcus Flint had also been 'accidentally' knocked off his broom.

Luckily for everyone, Harriet had been on her game, and she found the snitch in a mere 20 minutes. The crowd had been turning positively ugly, and at that point it had looked like McGonagall was going to call the match entirely. She'd snagged the snitch while the Slytherin Seeker was clear on the other side of the pitch, trying to keep Gryffindor from overwhelming their sole remaining Beater. It should have been a day for Harriet to celebrate. But Harriet couldn't bring herself to celebrate that horrible travesty of a match.

"It was a very ugly match," said Harriet, "I'm not happy with the Slytherins myself right now, but people are taking this too far."

"It isn't like no one from Slytherin tried to warn us Draco was up to something," Hermione pointed out, "Daphne absolutely did."

"But no one wants to hear it right now," admitted Hermione, "Draco opened up a lot of old wounds between the houses, and it isn't like the Slytherins are innocent either. What Draco did was just the logical extension of pureblood ideology."

"I agree, but we can't stoop to their level," argued Harriet, "Bullying and violence are not going to fix the problems in Slytherin."

"A good observation Miss Potter," said a familiar and unwelcome voice.

Professor Snape was walking up from the school.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Ron.

Snape's eyes hardened.

"He's a teacher Ron," said an exasperated Harriet, "He can go where he bloody well likes."

"I wish to speak with Miss Granger about a matter," said Snape, looking at Ron as if he was some sort of bug.

"I...uh I guess I can head back to the common room," said Ron, practically hopping to make his way back to school.

Harriet looked at Hermione. The other girl shook her head slightly.

"If it's all the same, I'd prefer Harriet stay," said Hermione.

"That is fine," said Snape, "I really only needed Weasley to leave."

Suddenly, Snape seemed uncomfortable. "I wanted to talk to you about Draco's punishment," he admitted.

"What about it?" asked Hermione.

"There is a strong possibility that he will not be expelled," said Snape, "so to forestall him escaping punishment completely, I am attempting to create a compromise. However, I did not want to bring it to Lucius without speaking to you about it."

"Why bring it to me?" asked Hermione bitterly, "It seems your mind is made up."

"It is not made up," said Snape, "You are the injured party here. Your input will affect what I recommend. I do not want to deny you justice. But there is more at stake here."

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.

"As despicable as Draco's actions were when he attacked you, he only did them because he was raised in a home where pureblood supremacy was exalted, and where he was completely spoiled," said Snape, "With the decline of his father's influence, Draco has been faced with what must seem like his entire world coming apart. It does not excuse his actions. But, isn't it possible that in another circumstance Draco might have done something differently?"

"But that's just a hypothetical," said Harriet, "What Draco did do was horrible."

"I agree, which is why I mean to make sure Draco is punished. Under my compromise Draco would be confined to either the Slytherin common room or a designated class space for the rest of the year. He would be allowed no contact with students from the other houses. He would be specifically banned from any contact with Miss Granger here. And he would take all classes from me directly, or from another teacher in his class space. I would oversee his education, and I will do my best to fix the damage Lucius and Narcissa have done to him."

"Just for the rest of the year?" asked Hermione.

"He would still be under my tutelage for his second year as well, though we would allow him to eat meals in the Great Hall and otherwise socialize with students," said Snape, "Once, I was a Death Eater. But thanks to the forbearance of the Headmaster, I was given a chance to atone for that. I want to give Draco the same chance. The chance to become a better person."

"What made you leave the Death Eaters?" asked Hermione.

Snape was silent for a moment, and he gave Harriet an uncomfortable look. "They threatened the life of someone I loved," he said finally.

Harriet suspected she knew of whom he was speaking, but decided against making a fuss. No need to make this harder. Yet if Snape really had turned over a new leaf…

"He's right," said Harriet, "Remember what Sirius said?" Snape grunted at that.

"'We have to make people better, and that is hard, and harder the older someone gets. But the struggle is worth it,'" quoted Hermione, "Dammit, you're right." Hermione shook her head.

"You need to ban Draco from contacting me or my close friends," said Hermione, "That would be Harry, Ron, and the other girls in my dormitory."

"Of course," said Snape.

"This doesn't mean I forgive him," said Hermione, "He's going to have to earn that, if he even cares. I want nothing to do with him from here on out. But he does deserve a chance to be better, even if he can't understand what that means right now."

"Of course," said Snape, "I appreciate this Miss Granger. This is a very mature thing you are doing, and you as well, Miss Potter."

Hermione nodded, but Harriet could see she was flustered, and there were tears in her eyes.

"Could you leave us for a bit?" Harriet asked, "I think Hermione needs a bit of space."

"Of course," said Snape, "I apologise for bothering you with this. I think you have made the right decision."

And with that, he spun around and walked away.

"Are you upset?" asked Harriet as soon as he was gone.

Hermione shook her head. "I'm just.. I didn't quite expect things to turn out like this. At least Snape had the guts to come and face me, ask my opinion. Unlike Crouch."

Harriet put her arm around Hermione's shoulders. "Would you have let Crouch set his trap for Lucius like that?"

"Maybe," said Hermione, "I think ensuring that muggleborn rights are protected is important. I suppose I'd be willing to sacrifice to let that happen. I just would like to be asked."

"The magical world isn't always the best about that," said Harriet.

"Yeah," said Hermione, "It isn't."

Hermione sighed. "My parents are going to flip…"

That was an understatement.

XXXXX

"She did what?!" demanded Helen.

"Hermione gave Snape permission to seek an alternate punishment for Draco," said Sirius, trying to remain calm.

"Why?" asked Robert.

"Harriet said Hermione felt that Professor Snape would be more likely to help Draco realize what he did was wrong," said Sirius, "I must admit I am rather dubious about that, but both Hermione and Harriet are adamant that Draco be given this chance. That's probably my fault. After Draco's trial I gave them the whole, "Yes, society is bad, but don't give up on people, they can change" speech. They seem to have taken it to heart."

"Sounds like our daughter," admitted Robert.

"At the very least, Draco has been forbidden to contact Hermione or her friends until he re-enters classes in third year," said Sirius.

"I suppose that is something," said Helen with a sigh, "Why is she making this so much harder on us?"

"She wants to do the right thing, dear," said Robert.

"Why does that have to be so much trouble?" asked Helen.

**Author's Note**: Probably the main reason I have kept quiet in the author's note for this story is this chapter. Draco getting a redemption arc is a big deal to this story. But don't expect him to get chummy with Harriet and Hermione. His arc is another long one.

This has been a segue from the main plot and the next chapter will get that back on track. Also back on track is my writing. I had some serious writer's block in regards to the first chapter of part 4, but I pushed through it. Chapter 2 I haven't had time to start on yet, but it is a much less complicated affair. Or at least it is complicated in an easier way to write.


	7. Recovery

**Chapter 7: Recovery**

It was Harriet's first session with Professor Sprout, and Harriet had no idea what this was going to entail. She showed up to the Professor's office, which was just inside the school near the exits to the Greenhouse. Her office was full of various potted plants, all arranged rather artfully.

"Hello," said Harriet meekly, "I'm here."

"Sit down Harriet!" ordered Sprout enthusiastically, "How are you today?"

"Pretty good," said Harriet.

"Upset about the news about Malfoy, I assume?" asked Sprout.

"No, not really, Hermione signed off on that, Professor Snape gave us plenty of warning," noted Harriet almost absently.

"Well I must say I'm surprised at that, Severus isn't one to confide in a student. Professor Snape, I mean," mused Sprout.

Harriet nodded. "I think he just felt bad about it. He once called my mother a mudblood when they were in school together, but I think he regretted that. I think…" Harriet stopped, realising this was really none of Professor Sprout's business.

"What do you think, Harriet?" asked Sprout, "The whole point in asking you here is to get you talking about what's bothering you."

Harriet grimaced. This wasn't what she had in mind at all. "Sorry, I think Professor Snape was in love with my mother. That's one of the reasons it's so hard for him to see me. I look like my mother, but I have my father's hair colour."

"I suppose that is possible. Does it make you angry?" asked Sprout.

"No, he had as much right to his feelings as anyone else. As long as he didn't continue pursuing my mother after she made it clear that she wasn't interested. Which by all accounts was what happened - he let go. And the whole thing explains why he hated the Marauders. But I didn't come here to discuss Professor Snape. It feels like I'm intruding on his privacy discussing this, so if it's all the same..."

"I understand Harriet. So, how often do you think about your Uncle Vernon, and what he did to you?" asked Sprout.

"I don't know," sighed Harriet, "A few times a day I guess. It was a big part of my life for a long time."

"Yet it has been over a year since he last harmed you," said Sprout, "What sort of things make you think about him."

"Well," said Harriet, trying to think about this, "When I'm unfamiliar with a situation, or something makes me uncomfortable. When that happens I'll just think something like, 'I can't let myself be a victim again'. It's just a moment though, it comes and goes in an instant."

"So what you are saying is that you judge every dangerous or unfamiliar situation through the lens of something that could lead you back into something like your Uncle's abuse?"

"It's only natural that I'd be cautious about something like that," Harriet said defensively.

"I never said otherwise," said Sprout, "I just want to know what makes you think about him."

"Are you afraid of him?" she asked suddenly.

"He's in prison, it would be rather silly to be afraid of a muggle who's in prison," rejoined Harriet.

"I've heard of people being afraid of far sillier things," said Sprout.

"Mostly I'm just contemptuous of him," said Harriet more confidently, "but sometimes, in my dreams…" Harriet trailed off.

"I understand," said Sprout, who really did seem to understand.

"I mean I know he isn't dangerous to me anymore, but those dreams still terrify me," admitted Harriet.

"There's nothing wrong with that," said Sprout, "You are a child, he was an adult. What he did to you was an enormous betrayal. Regardless of the physical threat he presented or still presents, what he did to you emotionally was probably far worse. Here's a question, if he was here right now, would you want to get your revenge on him?"

Harriet hesitated, then hung her head. "Yes, I'd blast him with the most powerful spell I know. I want to see him on the ground screaming!" Harriet's head popped back up.

"I want him to pay for what he did to me!" she said, her eyes aflame.

"That's natural," said Sprout, "What we need to do is find a positive way to deal with that anger."

"Thank you Professor Sprout," said Harriet, "Everyone always tells me I need to get over it, move past it. But sometimes I close my eyes and I still remember what it feels like when he… And then when I saw Draco hurting Hermione, it was the same. It was exactly the same."

"I think that when we are in these sessions, you can call me Pomona," said Pomona.

Harriet nodded. Maybe this would help her after all.

XXXXX

Draco Malfoy had expected more of his father.

Oh, his father had managed to get him off at trial. That was a simple matter of the right words in the right ear and a large disbursement of funds. A very large disbursement apparently. Draco wasn't sure how Weathers thought he could charge so much money for such a simple service. But Father had explained that casting this vote would probably end his career in the Wizengamot, so he wouldn't do it for less. Annoying really.

But then his father had completely caved! The way Draco saw it, Dumbledore had only been willing to cut a deal because he knew he didn't have the votes on the Board of Governors to get Draco expelled. As far as he was concerned he was scott-free! But then his father had cut this deal, and he'd been cut off from the bulk of the school.

At least Professor Snape was the one in charge of his education now. Oh, Draco supposed all the other heads of House were competent enough, but the Head of Slytherin House was one of the most skilled wizards Draco had ever met. Draco wondered if that was the point. Having the Potions Master teach him one on one was a bit of an honor, according to his father.

Snape swept into the classroom Draco was sitting in, his robes billowing behind him. The Potions Master really did know how to make an entrance. The classroom itself was an abandoned room in the dungeons that had been converted to a classroom over a century ago. There was no need for it these days, as there were far fewer wizards attending Hogwarts, but it was close to the Slytherin common room.

"Draco," said Snape, "Today I will begin your tutelage. It is vital that you pay attention, as I have little time to repeat myself. I have a full class load as well as you to deal with, so you must be on your game."

"WIll you have time for all that, sir?" asked Draco.

"I will not, at least alone. Flitwick has agreed to take on teaching you Evocation. Lupin has agreed to teach you Defense and History. I will handle Herbology, Potions and Astronomy, but of course you will not be allowed up into the Astronomy tower, so Astronomy will be all theory this year. I will also handle all other concerns relating to you," Snape seemed to stop, as if waiting for something at this point.

"Other concerns?" asked Draco, getting the hint.

"Do you know the real reason your father agreed to this situation?" asked Snape.

"I know there must be one, as I'm certain he could have prevented me from being expelled," admitted Draco.

"You're aren't entirely stupid," said Snape. Draco wasn't offended. From Snape that was almost a compliment.

"You are right, your father could have gotten you off almost entirely unscathed," admitted Snape, "He didn't because your choice of actions has shown him that you require a firmer hand. I am to show you the proper way for a man with the bloodline of the House of Malfoy to behave. To belong to a bloodline as old as yours isn't just a privilege. It requires duties of you. Duties which you seem to not understand."

"What do you mean?" asked Draco.

"For one, a civilized comportment," said Snape, "Your attack on Miss Granger, for example. You are a Malfoy. A Malfoy does not simply beat on people with his fists. He certainly does not do so on a restrained eleven year old girl. A Malfoy must remain above the fray, keeping his hands clean of any hint of scandal, not beating a muggleborn like a common thug."

"But during the war, Death Eaters did plenty of attacks on muggleborns!" protested Draco.

"That was a war!" snapped Snape, "They did so in pursuit of a higher cause! And your father only ever did so on the orders of the Dark Lord! Does your father go around attacking muggleborns anymore? Of course not! They may be your social inferiors, but they are still human. To treat them as animals makes you less than you are. As a Malfoy you have a responsibility to uphold the dignity of your position."

That actually made some sense. "But the Grangers made my father look foolish!" tried Draco; one last attempt to salvage his pride.

"Your father made himself look foolish," said Snape with a shake of his head, "He badly misjudged the situation with the Dursleys and his temper made everything worse. He has put your entire house in jeopardy! Which is why he has entrusted your training to me. I will teach you patience and cunning. I will teach you when to make your move and when to hold your peace. I will teach you about the beautiful subtleties of violence and persuasion. When I am done, you will be fit to lead, as you should."

Draco nodded, then made a face. "Was Lupin the best you could get me?" he asked.

"Considering that he didn't have to help you at all, and has done so voluntarily, you should be thanking me," said Snape, "Harriet had to convince him. McGonagall and Sprout refused."

"Why does Potter want him to help me?" demanded Draco.

"Because you're a loose cannon who's going off on everyone around you!" said Snape angrily, "She wants you to stop hurting her and her friends. And that is one thing I must impress on you. Do not bother Hermione Granger or any of her friends. IN ANY WAY. Do I make myself clear? If you do, you will be expelled."

"I understand," said Draco. He now realized he had badly misjudged his father. His father had not wanted him to go unpunished, he only wanted to make sure the punishment fit the crime. And he'd found someone who would administer it. Yet, Draco felt a certain surge of confidence. In a way, this was a test. And if he could pass it, he'd be in a position to make himself stronger than ever.

Yes, he could deal with this.

XXXXX

While Draco was being grilled by Snape, Harriet was finally having a conversation with Hermione and Ron. A long overdue conversation. She had gathered them in the first year boys dormitory during lunch. Ron had grumbled a bit about this, but Harriet had convinced the twins to procure them food from some other means, so they would still be fed.

Actually, Harriet hadn't been sure she was going to let Ron into her confidence, but the way he had taken responsibility for his actions in the aftermath of Halloween had been encouraging. Hermione was still a bit guarded around him, but that was to be expected.

"Morgan Solaire told me why she's acting so weird, or at least she claims she has," said Harriet, "She says… well this is rather incredible. She says she is the reincarnation of Morgana. And that she is here to fix her mistakes."

"Wait, what?" asked Hermione, "That's crazy. Is that even possible?"

"I don't know," said Harriet, "I couldn't find any trace of a reincarnation ritual in any books, but that wouldn't be the sort of thing a normal textbook would have, would it?"

"So what were her mistakes?" asked Ron, "I mean, was it just turning dark and betraying Arthur, or was there more to it?"

"That seems to be the crux of her mistakes," said Harriet, "Apparently Arthur was trying to reunite the Atlantean keystones. When Morgana turned on him, she pretty much killed that dream dead. There might be more to it of course, but she sounded genuinely remorseful about what she did."

"That's assuming that this isn't just a lie!" said Hermione disapprovingly, "Which we can't confirm or deny right now!"

"How do you prove something like that?" demanded Ron.

"Well, I suppose we could find out whether it is possible at all," considered Hermione, "I've actually read about a book on rituals, _Rituals of the Deepest Magics_. But it's in the Restricted Section."

"Sirius has a copy of that I think," said Harriet, "He told me it was off limits."

"He hasn't told me it's off limits though," said Hermione, "I could come over at some time during the holidays…"

"Good idea," agreed Harriet, "And if we find out it's real?"

"Should we tell Dumbledore then?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know," said Harriet.

Hermione shook her head. "Neither do I," she replied.

XXXXX

Harriet's sessions with Pomona were going well, if a bit more frustratingly than she had hoped at first. The biggest problem was that Harriet had serious doubts that anything was really helping. Calming techniques were calming, but Harriet had no faith in their ability to calm her when she was really angry. Channeling her anger into a productive activity was useful, but only really helped when there was something productive to do. Left alone with no obvious ways to channel her anger, Harriet felt she'd go right back to violent solutions.

Pomona understood this of course, which was what made Harriet think things were going well. For all Harriet's frustrations, Pomona seemed just as certain that Harriet could get a handle on things as she had the first day they'd tried, and it was now nearing the end of November. Pomona had never given even the slightest sign of frustration or anger. When Harriet seemed ready to give up, Pomona just said that this was a long process, and it would take time. And in truth, Harriet was starting to notice effects from one area. She was slowly losing her fear of her uncle.

That part of the training she liked to call an unqualified success. Harriet hadn't fully realized how much of a hold her uncle had taken on her mind. Even though she now knew magic that she could reliably use to disable him, she still saw her uncle as a large threatening figure. One of Pomona's tactics was that every week after Defense class, Harriet needed to tell her one thing that she had learned that could help her in a fight with her uncle. Harriet was surprised at how quickly new methods of dealing with him were piling up. Learning the Body-Bind had been a big help in this, but the tickle charm and a couple of other jinxes also helped. And simply having certain types of environmental awareness could help keep Harriet safe. The fact that she seemed to have more and more ways to deal with him each week was fast weakening his hold on her.

Hostile wizards, on the other hand, still scared the pants off of her. Which was also perfectly normal, according to Pomona. One minor source of comfort was Harriet's rather high magical capacity. It was a small advantage, but it did mean that Harriet could keep casting spells for a long time before getting tired. Also, Harriet was still the top of her class in Defense, which left her feeling a bit more confident. Pomona wasn't teaching her how to duel, which Harriet thought might help things further, but she was showing Harriet the ways her newfound skills could help her out.

Which was why tonight was especially frustrating. Their last session in November, and Harriet was feeling a bit… on edge. It was as if she was losing part of her readiness to slowly let down her guard. It felt sort of wrong; not being ultra wary all the time, and it was definitely making her feel uneasy.

Pomona, as usual, sensed something was wrong. "Are you feeling all right?" she asked.

Harriet shook her head, "Part of me is really… frightened of the fact that I'm not reacting the way I used to," admitted Harriet, "I feel like I'm unprepared or naked."

"It can take a bit of getting used to," said Pomona, "Though suspicion isn't necessarily bad. Just don't get carried away. Don't react to everything as if it could kill you unless you have good reason to believe it will."

"I am trying," said Harriet, 'I'm just on edge."

Pomona nodded. "Well, maybe what you need is to relax. I have an idea. Follow me."

And with that Pomona led Harriet out of the room. Following her out of Pomona's office, Harriet soon found herself in the dungeons, next to a painting of fruit. Pomona reached out and tickled a pear on the painting, causing it to twitch and giggle, and causing a door to open. Harriet followed Pomona in to find a massive kitchen staffed with elves.

"Pomona! Pomona!" shouted elves as Pomona entered the room. She was clearly very popular with the elves.

"The elves at Hogwarts have more freedom than elves anywhere else in Magical Britain," said Pomona, "I've found them to be some of the best people I've met. Truly, they are always willing to please and help people. And they are loyal to a fault. They won't allow anyone to harm you here. I thought this might be a place you can retreat to if you need a moment."

"I don't know what to say," said Harriet as the elves came in with trays loaded with pumpkin juice and food. Including treacle tart!

"Are students supposed to be here?" asked Harriet.

"There is no rule against it," said Pomona, "And in fact, Helga Hufflepuff herself set a rule that no student could ever be turned away from the kitchens except by order of the school nurse. She thought the kitchens were an important part of the castle. She once called it 'the Heart of Hogwarts."

Harriet nearly dropped her pumpkin juice. "The Heart of Hogwarts?" she asked, stunned. Had she really just walked right into this?

"Oh yes," said Pomona, "every Hufflepuff knows this, but I suppose not all the houses are up on the Hufflepuff lore."

"Short sighted," said Harriet absently. This was the place that the Founders had told her to seek. Here, right here, somewhere, was the key to finding the Grail.

Harriet put down her food and made her way to the giant fire in the Hearth. Something about this place spoke to her. It was as if she was being pulled, ever so slightly, towards that wall. She lifted her hand, and felt the pull coming from the side.

The elves had started to look at Harriet worriedly. Pomona had as well.

"Is something the matter?" Pomona asked sharply.

"I'm fine," said Harriet, "It's just that…"

As Harriet said that her hand swept across the wall to the left of the hearth. The same sign that had appeared in the Hufflepuff common room surged into existence. Pomona gasped. This time, however, Harriet felt a pull from the symbol. And suddenly she was pulled into it. She braced for impact with the wall, but it was as if the wall wasn't there. She plunged into an inky void.

In what felt like hours, but was most likely just a few moments. Harriet saw something ahead. It was dim, almost too dim to be considered light, yet light it was. But as she approached it everything froze.

Harriet tried to turn, but found herself frozen. Suddenly a woman appeared in front of her. The woman had white hair, but was still relatively young. And she was very familiar. Harriet suddenly realised it was Hermione, probably in her early to mid twenties.

"Look for me with the return of the Phoenix," said Hermione, who then shimmered out of existence.

Harriet was quite confused. What on earth did that mean?

Her musing was cut off as an older, young adult, Ron appeared. "My heart is my strongest ally, and my greatest enemy. Hold my hand, and I will thrive. Let me loose and my heart will betray me." He similarly vanished.

That one was utterly confusing to Harriet. It made no sense. What could he possibly be talking about?

Suddenly an older Ginny came into view. Grown up, Ginny looked very different. Harriet had always thought she looked a great deal like her mother, but as an adult she looked very different, albeit still beautiful. "Believe in me. I am my own person, no matter what," said the apparition. It too vanished.

Suddenly Harriet felt propelled into the faint light, which suddenly exploded with brilliance. And then, she found herself in a huge cavern. At the heart of the cavern was a stone. The Atlantean Keystone, Harriet realised. But she could also see the magic around it, layer after layer, trying to use the keystone as an anchor. Around the keystone were several larger stones. The main wardstones of Hogwarts. Far more powerful than the anchor stones outside the castle, Harriet knew instinctively. This whole place thrummed with power.

"The Keystone sits at the Nexus of the school's wardstones," said a voice. Harriet turned to see Pecival's spectral form standing there.

"Clever," said Percival, "that way, even if the keystone is removed, the school wards stand, though they'd lose power. Merlin's wards are on top of the school wards. They are mobile, which makes sense. Wherever in the world it is the keystone would still cover the whole world. The Ministry wards are on top of that. So crude in comparison, yet so elegant compared to their usual work. From here the British national wards are focused."

"Merlin's wards?" asked Harriet.

"They keep out The Darkness," said Percival, his tone indicating he had no intention of continuing.

"Is the Grail here?" asked Harriet.

"No, but it was necessary to come here to have this conversation," said Percival, "Here magic is so strong that even the dead may be conversed with. That is why the clue sent you here."

"So in order to get the next clue…" started Harriet.

"Voldemort would need to speak with the dead, yes," said Percival, "He does have the means, though it is unclear if he knows that."

"How do you know this?" asked Harriet.

"I am dead, I know what I wish to,' said Percival, "Though what I can tell you is limited."

"Unfortunate," said Harriet.

"You must seek the place that comes and goes, Harriet," said Percival, "There the entrance to the Path of the Founders can be found."

"Could I speak to my parents?" asked Harriet quietly, "Now that I'm here."

Percival gave Harriet a sad look. "Oh, I wish I could grant you that. But they are not here. Not at this time anyway. And in any event, you have Sirius, and Remus, and maybe even your aunt. Look to the living Harriet Potter, the dead will still be there after you pass on."

"What were those things I saw?" asked Harriet, "Did I just _see _something?"

"You are no seer, Harriet," said Percival with a laugh. "But here, with so much magic present, odd things have been known to happen. Perhaps you will stand here in the future? Perhaps those you saw will? Who knows? I do not know the future."

"Okay," said Harriet.

"Return now Harriet," said Percival, "Know that while you complete this trial, I will look after you, as much as I am able."

And suddenly Harriet was pushed away, thrown back into the inky black void. She rushed forward, now at an incredible speed and suddenly exploded back into the Hogwarts kitchens where she found a very surprised Pomona, with Dumbledore, Morgan, and McGonagall behind her.

"Harriet!" said Pomona, "Are you all right?"

"Y-y-yes," said Harriet using one of Pomona's calming techniques, "I'm fine. This was the place my clue told me to go, The Heart of Hogwarts. It took me to the place where the keystone is kept. And I met the shade of Percival. He gave me another clue."

"So the Grail is not here?" asked McGonagall.

"No," said Harriet, "The first clue was just to get me into the keystone chamber so I could speak to Percival's actual shade. The powerful magics interacting there allow for…"

"They allow you to speak to the dead!" said Morgan excitedly, "If you need to speak to the dead to find the Grail, it will make things difficult for Voldemort."

Dumbledore frowned, "Perhaps," he said worriedly.

"Percival said Voldemort has a means to speak to the dead, but he might not know he has it yet," said Harriet.

Dumbledore nodded. "I had heard rumors about the Gaunt ring but… well it seems they are confirmed," muttered the headmaster, seemingly to himself, "Voldemort indeed probably does have a means to speak with the dead. This makes this course of action even deadlier. Do you know the location of the Grail?"

"I was given another riddle," said Harriet.

"I am now convinced that this whole matter is too dangerous," said McGonagall, "I think we should put a stop to it."

"While I agree, I do not think we can stop Harriet from seeking this on her own," said Dumbledore, "It is her birthright. But I can refuse to allow teachers or other staff to help her."

"I will keep looking," said Harriet.

"As you will," said Dumbledore, "but you will now do it alone. I don't think you understand how dangerous this is. If we had some way to control the environment where the Grail could be found, maybe this could be done safely. But you must not put yourself at risk on the doubtful word of the founders. Who knows what tests they have devised to keep the Grail out of the hands of the unworthy?"

"I've made up my mind," said Harriet.

"Aren't you going to tell us the clue?" asked McGonagall.

"Oh, no!" said Harriet angrily, "I'm not going to make it easier for you to impede me."

A hint of a smile touched Dumbledore's face. Whatever the headmaster's feelings, he was still a Gryffindor. Seeing a student charge brazenly into the unknown... well it was a very Gryffindorish thing to do, wasn't it?

XXXXX

As Harriet left, McGonagall turned to Dumbledore. "Why not just order her not to search for the Grail?"

Dumbledore smiled. "You should know a young Gryffindor better than that Minerva. Doing that would be the one way we could be certain that she would search for it day and night."

"I think this is a mistake," said Morgan, "I think we should let her get the Grail as quickly as possible and then give it to Flamel. Now that Voldemort knows it is here it is no longer safe."

"I would normally agree," said Dumbledore, "But Slytherin's agreement that she needs to find the Grail concerns me."

"Salazar Slytherin was many things, but there is no historical evidence that he advocated genocide of muggleborns," said Morgan, "I believe he would oppose Voldemort's return as much as the rest of the founders."

"Yet his reputation didn't come from nowhere," replied McGonagall. _What was Morgan trying to do here? _McGonagall wondered.

Morgan sighed exasperatedly. "Have it your way Headmaster. But I hate saying I told you so."

XXXXX

Harriet didn't have time to worry about the Grail for the moment. She was too busy preparing for the end of term. Potions in particular was getting more and more difficult. She and Hermione were both struggling a bit, not with the potions themselves, but trying to figure out the way the ingredients interacted. On the 2nd of December, a Monday, they started looking over the next weeks potion recipes.

And Harriet immediately freaked. "Merlin's beard! Another alternate use of toad bile! This doesn't make any sense! There has to be some explanation for the way potions reagents react!"

"I know, but the textbook is awful at explaining it," said Hermione.

"That tears it," raged Harriet, "It is obvious that this textbook was written specifically to keep us from experimenting, but it is also preventing me from learning this correctly." Harriet stood up and walked towards the door to the Gryffindor common room.

"Harriet? Where are you going?" asked Hermione.

"I'm going to ask Professor Snape about this!" she yelled as she marched her way down to the dungeons. She knew Snape had this listed as his office hours, probably because it was so inconvenient for many students. So she was utterly unconcerned when she knocked on his office door.

Snape opened the door, his eyebrows arching when he saw her. Behind Snape she saw Malfoy, who almost cringed when he saw her.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know that you were engaged," said Harriet awkwardly, "If this is a bad time…"

"It is my posted office hours," said Snape begrudgingly, "I usually don't have anyone come in at this time though, so I decided to do some tutoring."

"Well I did have a question. It has to do with our textbook," said Harriet.

"Oh?" said Snape coldly.

"Well, it's rather useless isn't it?" asked Harriet, "It doesn't have a comprehensive list of reagents and how they react to all the different processes we use on them. Or a reaction chart. You'd think that would be fundamental."

Snape looked at her for another moment, then he nodded. "Yes you are quite correct," he said, not warmly, but almost cordially, "Do you know why the textbook does this?"

"I'm assuming so we can't experiment with creating new potions," said Harriet.

Snape smiled, not exactly a warm gesture, but not a hostile one either, "Very good Potter, you seem to not be a complete moron with potions."

Snape walked back to his desk and began writing something down. While he was over there, Harriet pointedly ignored Draco. No use getting into trouble over him.

Finally Snape walked back to the door. "This book is an older textbook, it was what I used the first few years I taught here. It is now in the Restricted Section. But as you've specifically asked me about this, I'm allowed to direct you towards it. This will give you permission to check it out."

"Thank you Professor!" said Harriet exuberantly.

"It's always good seeing someone take more than a passing interest in potions," said Snape, "And one point to Gryffindor to figuring out what the Ministry didn't want you to."

And having managed to finagle a point out of Snape, Harriet made her way away from his office. Calmly. She didn't want to lose that point for something like running in the halls.

XXXXX

As Draco watched Professor Snape he noticed his face. He was smiling at Harriet. As soon as Harriet left, Snape shut the door.

"You seem almost happy with her," said Draco sourly.

"It is always good when a student shows a heightened interest in potions," said Snape, his smile disappearing instantly, "And you should be grateful. If Harriet had goaded you into speaking to her, you would be in a lot of trouble. She showed as much restraint as could be expected of her."

"Still, you didn't tell me about that book," asked Draco, starting to feel a bit hurt.

"You didn't ask," reminded Snape.

"Now Potter will have it for Merlin knows how long," pouted Draco.

"I do have a personal copy of it you realise," said Snape, "I'm not supposed to show it to you, but if you're willing to keep this a secret…"

"That I can do," said Draco.

"Tell no one. That is by far the best way to keep a secret," said Snape, his voice almost a whisper.

Draco nodded.

"I'll make a Slytherin of you yet, boy," said Snape.

Draco just grinned.


	8. A Holiday Victory

**Chapter 8: A Holiday Victory**

"Over here, Harriet!" shouted Helen Granger. Harriet was pulling her trunk along the platform and looking for her aunt, but she didn't see her anywhere. She guessed Mrs. Granger had more information for her.

"Your aunt was very busy today and asked me to pick you up," said Helen, "She's working with the Society for Urban Beautification."

"She has a job?" asked Harriet, surprised. Though she had to admit that it was exactly the sort of job she imagined her aunt getting.

"A few hours a week, yes." said Helen, "Unfortunately, now is when she had to work. Still, she's almost done, so we can just drop you off there and she'll take you the rest of the way."

Harriet was a bit disappointed, but did her best not to let it show. Her aunt getting a job _was_ a good sign.

"Actually, Petunia has come a long way in the last few months," said Helen, "You'll see."

That was even stranger as far as Harriet was concerned. Helen had always been a bit dismissive of her aunt before. Part of it was disapproval for how Harriet had been treated. Even though Harriet didn't blame her aunt, almost everyone else did to some degree.

The car ride was uneventful, and soon Harriet was unloading in front of a small storefront that had been converted into office space. An older woman walked outside, and immediately grew excited as she saw Harriet's trunk.

"What a delightful piece!" she shouted out exuberantly, "Very good for a Victorian era refit. Is this an original?"

"No," said Harriet, "It's uh, a recreation."

"Very nice," said the old woman, when suddenly Petunia ran out of the office.

"Mrs. Simms, this is my niece Harriet," said Petunia, before turning to the girl apologetically, "I'm sorry I couldn't meet you at the station, we were out judging local houses for the Christmas decoration contest this year." And suddenly, Harriet's aunt pulled her into a hug.

Harriet didn't know what to do for a moment before she had the presence of mind to return the hug. "I'm just glad you found something to keep you busy," said Harriet, "though if I'd have guessed, this is exactly what I'd have pegged you doing."

"I'm not exactly branching out am I?" admitted Petunia wryly.

"As long as you like it, I think it's brilliant," said Harriet.

Petunia nodded to Helen and Hermione. "Thank you so much for giving Harriet a ride!" she said sincerely.

"Always a pleasure," said Helen.

XXXXX

Privet Drive was almost totally different. All the little kitschy things that Petunia had favored before were gone, and had been replaced by faux antiques. It was an improvement, though Harriet wasn't sure of how big of one. Dudley seemed scared to damage them, though in truth Harriet doubted they were really worth anything.

"Dudley's grades have gone down since he's not around you Harriet,"Petunia admitted that night, "But they are far better than they were before you started helping him. I'm very impressed by the work he's put in."

By Harriet's reckoning, Dudley had put barely any work into his school work and was getting rather average grades. Still, she realized that Petunia was still Petunia, and Dudley was still her baby boy. She was still going to treat him like a little princeling. Luckily, Dudley himself had learned a modicum of self-control. He'd lost a little weight, and was no longer getting in trouble at school.

"I heard you got in a fight at school," said Dudley suddenly. Petunia scowled.

"She did not get in a fight!" snapped Petunia, "She merely stepped in when her friend was attacked."

"More or less," demurred Harriet, "I broke his nose then punched him in the stomach a bunch of times till he fell over. Then I kicked him in the stomach again." Dudley grinned at this, but Petunia scowled.

It was strange, Privet Drive almost felt like home now. Petunia was almost like a mother, Dudley almost like a brother. That almost was coming close to breaking Harriet's heart. There was just a tiny bit of separation between her and her aunt and cousin, but it was for all intents and purposes a yawning chasm. As much as Harriet appreciated the effort they'd put in, she just wanted to go visit her friends, and go stay with Sirius. That would always be her home now.

She shook her head. Here they were, trying their hardest to accept her, and she was being so ungrateful. Dammit, this was what she'd wanted. She tried to put her concerns out of her head. The one thing she didn't feel though, was concern. While this wasn't exactly what she'd call a safe place, Pomona's help had managed to work a wonder. She could be in this place without thinking about her uncle.

XXXXX

Harriet had to admit that she had been hoping to see more of Sirius this Christmas break. She knew that he was busy with the Muggle and Muggleborn Civil rights act, but she had hoped that he would have time for her. Still, she was very grateful for what Sirius was doing. And she did manage to get over to Hermione's house before Christmas.

"So what is this I hear about some sort of dangerous scavenger hunt you are doing?" asked Robert Granger. He had taken the day off to spend some time with Hermione and Harriet. Helen was working though.

"I wouldn't call searching for the Holy Grail a scavenger hunt," said Hermione.

"Wait, the actual Holy Grail?" asked Robert, "That's crazy."

"The Headmaster doesn't want me doing this," admitted Harriet, "But I need to get to it before Voldemort does. The founders, or the magic they left behind at least, told me so."

"I'm not sure I'm ready to cope with this," said Robert.

"Join the club," said Hermione, "I think that Harriet should show some restraint. But she's intent on going full speed ahead. Well, as long as our Defense teacher isn't secretly trying to kill us."

"You still don't trust Morgan?" asked Robert.

Harriet gave Hermione a very significant look. "We'll trust her once we can verify her story," said Harriet carefully, "There is no indication that she wishes us any harm. Hermione is just being overdramatic."

"What story?" asked Robert.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," said Hermione.

XXXXX

Sirius finally showed up for Christmas.

"Sorry I haven't been around kiddo," he said as Harriet finished hugging him, "We're almost done with the Act. Then I'll be able to take you back to Grimmauld Place."

"I need to do my schoolwork!" said Harriet, "Your library has some good books I need to consult. Well, Hermione needs to consult."

"I'll be sure to make sure you have plenty of time to do it!" said Sirius, "And with some time to spare!"

"Sirius!" said Petunia excitedly, "Good to see you! Happy Christmas!"

Petunia seemed to genuinely be happy that Sirius had shown up for Christmas. Suddenly, Harriet realized what was happening. Her aunt was _interested_ in Sirius.

"So how are you doing Petunia?" asked Sirius.

"Very well, actually," said Petunia, "Things are finally on track for my divorce."

"That is good," replied Sirius, "How much longer will it be then?"

"It is likely a matter of weeks," said Petunia, "Vernon is no longer trying to fight it at all."

"Well, it will be good for you to be an independent woman," said Sirius, "You've begun to do well for yourself I hear."

"Oh, I really haven't done anything meaningful yet," said Petunia, "But I hope to get a full-time position soon. That would get me in a position where I didn't have to depend on you. Not that I am ungrateful, mind you. Because I am _very_ grateful."

Sirius gave an indulgent smile. Oh he _knew_! His manner indicated that he was humouring her though.

"Well, taking care of Harriet will repay me more than anything else ever could," said Sirius tolerantly.

Harriet shook her head. Whatever her aunt was thinking, Harriet was thinking that anything between her and Sirius was more than a little unlikely. Sirius might be polite to her, but he was clearly not interested.

"How about I take you back to Grimmauld Place the night before the vote?" asked Sirius, "That will allow you and Hermione to celebrate with me when I get back."

Harriet grinned. That would mean that she and Hermione would be able to root through the library for most of that day.

"Sounds fantastic," said Harriet.

Harriet's haul for Christmas was fairly respectable, but the thing she was most excited about was a small package that was from an unknown person. She opened it up only to discover an invisibility cloak!

"That'll be from Dumbledore," noted Sirius, "It was the one that belonged to your father."

"Oh, I'll have plenty of uses for this!" said Harriet

"Harriet!" said Petunia.

"Now you wouldn't plan on breaking any rules with that cloak?" asked Sirius, his voice not quite able to hide his amusement.

"Of course not," said Harriet.

Sirius smirked at her. He didn't believe her any more than Petunia did, but he did let her keep the cloak.

XXXXX

Harriet wasn't all that sad to say goodbye to Privet Drive again. Sirius had brought her back to Grimmauld Place the day after Boxing Day.

"You will behave tomorrow, won't you?" asked Sirius.

"I will behave exactly as a child of one of the Marauders should," said Harriet.

"Okay, you aren't exactly filling me with confidence," said Sirius.

"I'm not trying to," admitted Harriet, "But I'm mostly joking."

"I wouldn't want to have to punish you," threatened Sirius.

"And I wouldn't want to have to tell Aunt Petunia that you fancy her," said Harriet.

"You picked up on that crush she has on me, huh?" asked Sirius, "I don't want to be mean to her, but I'm honestly not attracted to her."

"I don't blame you, she's a very shallow person in a lot of ways," admitted Harriet.

"So, can you tell me what rules you plan on breaking?" asked Sirius.

"Nope," said Harriet, "But don't worry, I'm not going to do anything dangerous."

"I'd be a poor godfather if I didn't try to stop you from doing whatever you are planning to do," said Sirius.

Harriet waited, and then realized he had finished speaking. "But you'd be a poor Marauder if you didn't at least see what I end up getting up to."

"Damn it Potter, I'm supposed to be a role model!" Sirius shouted, not angrily, but with a self-mocking smile on his face.

"There's always time to start," said Harriet.

"Keep this up and I won't let Hermione come over," said Sirius.

"Do you really think Hermione is going to let me break your rules?" asked Harriet innocently.

Sirius grunted suspiciously.

XXXXX

The moment Sirius left the next day, Harriet and Hermione went up to the library. And the moment Hermione walked up to the shelf that Sirius had declared off limits, Kreacher appeared.

"Master Sirius said that Mistress Potter should not read those books!" said Kreacher, though his voice was amused rather than angry.

"Hermione wanted to read them, not me," said Harriet.

Kreacher considered that for a moment. "I suppose Master Sirius did not exactly prohibit me from letting the mu...muggleborn from reading those books," admitted Kreacher.

Harriet grimaced. Kreacher had been about to say mudblood. It was the one tendency he had that still enraged Sirius. It wasn't his fault, it really wasn't. He'd been brought up to use that word his entire life. Harriet suspected that Kreacher had been abused severely at some point in his life. He absolutely refused to talk about his life before Arcturus Black had bonded him and given him to his eldest son, but apparently he had served another branch of the Black family that had died out. Orion and Walburga Black had apparently been very kind masters, at least by Kreacher's standards, whatever else they had been. Kreacher had repaid that kindness with a loyalty that Harriet wasn't sure they were owed. After all, they had continued to enslave him.

Regulus on the other hand had treated Kreacher like a sibling. Which also explained the elf's incredible loyalty to the man. And why Kreacher had tolerated Sirius, a man who clearly hated Kreacher. Harriet shook her head angrily. She didn't want to think about that right now. She knew he tried for her sake, but Kreacher reminded Sirius of too many things he hated. The only reason he tolerated him at all was for the same reason Kreacher tolerated him: Regulus. Without that, Harriet or no, Sirius would likely have given Kreacher clothes long ago.

"We just want to check if something is possible," said Harriet, "We aren't trying to learn how to do any of this magic."

Kreacher nodded, then waved his hand. A glowing wall in front of the shelf shimmered to life, then vanished.

"Kreacher will put it back up when you are done," said the elf with a grin.

It didn't take Hermione long to find the book she needed. Soon she was flipping through it quickly. Apparently, Hermione had a means of reading books that allowed her to read them in a short period of time. The key was apparently to ignore all the supporting evidence to get to the main point. If you needed to go back and read the evidence later that was fine, but getting the broad scope of it quickly was important on the first read.

"I found it!" said Hermione, "The ritual of Awakened Samsara. Apparently it was an Indian ritual. According to this it was very controversial in India, given the importance of reincarnation in Hinduism. All copies of the ritual extant today are in Sanskrit, though it had previously been translated by…" Hermione trailed off.

"By?" asked Harriet.

"Merlin," said Hermione.

"Who is it?" demanded Harriet, thinking that Hermione had just sworn.

"I meant Merlin the Magician, you know, Arthur's advisor," said Hermione, "He went to India once apparently. Apparently the ritual does work, but it sends people to a seemingly random point in the future. This was arithmantically proven by a trio of Indian Arithmancers in 1732, using the then relatively new method of calculus. There is a debate as to whether the ritual actually causes reincarnation or whether it just makes you aware of it happening to you."

"So, it is possible," said Harriet.

"Yes," said Hermione.

Kreacher was looking at both of them oddly. Hermione handed him the book back.

"Thank you for your help and understanding Kreacher," said Hermione, "We really appreciate all your help."

Kreacher smiled. "Thank you, thank you… Miss Granger." Kreacher turned around to put the book away.

"Wow, that was interesting," said Harriet, "I think he likes you! Impressive, given that he was raised to think all muggleborns were little better than insects."

"It's absolutely horrible what has been done to the elves," said Hermione, "They used to have their own lands and cities and nations, and now they're all enslaved!"

Harriet nodded. "It is odd, isn't it? I wonder…"

Harriet walked over to the other bookshelves. She looked through the books, then found an old volume that looked as if it was from the 1910's.

"_Elves throughout the Ages of Man,_" read Harriet, "Maybe this book will shed some light on what happened to the elves."

Hermione seemed reticent. "I don't know, we do have school work to do."

"We have plenty of time to finish that," said Harriet, "But this book could tell us a lot about what happened to the House Elves! Isn't that more important?"

Hermione couldn't argue with that.

XXXXX

The Purebloods had put up a hell of a fight, Sirius had to admit. Even with the spectre of Draco Malfoy's unjust acquittal, the purebloods had fought like crazy to destroy section 2 of Sirius's bill. They'd gutted employment discrimination clauses, as well as protections against discrimination. It had cost them very very heavily in public opinion, but they had done it. It had been all Sirius could do to keep the muggleborn test for new laws in.

And the moment the bill passed, Sirius allowed himself to gloat. They'd done all of it for naught. Section 3 had passed. All that they had cut out was still covered.

"Well we did our best," said Augusta, walking up grimly, "We got some good out of this bill." Sirius had not informed her of what Section 3 meant, as a slight revenge against her voting against him on the matter of Harriet, and also just to keep it quiet generally.

Sirius grinned. "We got more than some good out of it. The purebloods are on the ropes. They're going to be crushed in the next elections if things keep going like this."

"It's a shame section 2 got gutted though," said Augusta.

"Section 3 was the important one," said Sirius."

"What?" asked Augusta.

"I'm going to explain it to the Purebloods," said Sirius, "Prepare to watch their faces as I tell them that everything they did to gut Section 2 was pointless."

Augusta's eyes widened as she realized what Sirius had done.

Sirius walked across the chamber and waved down Bryant Greengrass. The other man walked over to Sirius.

"Congratulations on your bill," said Greengrass, his face in a tight smile, "It was a rough passage I know…"

"Oh, I'm not worried about that," said Sirius, "Nothing of actual importance got stripped out of the bill."

"Oh?" asked Greengrass, his expression puzzled, "I thought you were a proponent of muggleborn rights."

"Oh I am," admitted Sirius, "But as you didn't see fit to mess with Section 3 of the bill, I got everything I wanted. Though I will admit, it was strange that the entire pureblood section of the Wizengamot voted to excise sections of the bill that granted muggleborns rights under wizard law, but said nothing about a section that granted all those same rights, except under the aegis of muggle law."

"What?!" demanded Greengrass sharply.

"Every single protection you cut was included in the muggle law that we just made binding on the Wizengamot," said Sirius, "And we also made it apply specifically to muggleborns. Every single protection passed. Every single one. So you just burned up all your political capital and got exactly _nothing_."

Greengrass looked at Sirius, his face horrified. "That's dishonest! This was a trick!"

Sirius shook his head. "All you had to do was look up the relevant muggle statute. If even a single one of you had bothered to do so you could probably have cut that section. But not one of you did."

Sirius turned to see Augusta beaming at him.

"Well played Warlock Black," said the Longbottom matriarch, "This was a masterful achievement."

Sirius grinned. No one used the title Warlock anymore, aside from the Chief Warlock of course, unless they were trying to express an extreme amount of respect and admiration for someone. It was essentially only used to describe those who had won an overwhelming victory in the Wizengamot in this day and age.

"Warlock Black indeed," said Fudge, who had been watching from a distance, "In the end Crouch's efforts didn't help or hamper this bill, and it was your trick that won the day. Still, he did make it so the Purebloods paid a heavy price for this victory."

"Too bad our relations are going to be strained for a while," said Sirius regretfully, "I think he's going for werewolves and creatures again soon."

"Well, we'll meet that challenge when we come to it," said Augusta.

Sirius nodded. They would indeed.

XXXXX

"So let me get this straight," said Sirius that night after he had shared the good news regarding the passage of the civil rights bill, "Instead of doing what you were supposed to be doing, which was your school work, you spent all day reading about House Elves?"

"Elves, not house elves," corrected Hermione, "They weren't called House Elves until the 1790's when British law forced magical society to create a technical distinction between the bondage of the elves and slavery."

"The 1790's?" asked Sirius.

"There was a muggle court ruling a couple decades earlier that declared that slavery had never been legal in the British Isles, without banning it in the British colonies," said Harriet, "Since slavery wasn't legal, elves would have to be freed if they were slaves. Hence the designation of House Elf."

"Ah," said Sirius, "So basically it was the very same reason my civil right bill works, muggle law trumped magical law."

"Exactly!" said Hermione, "But things for the elves weren't always like this. Back in the days of Atlantis, elves were largely independent. But things slowly changed. The Roman Republic had an interesting relationship with elves, with Roman wizards often going on a quest to recruit an elven companion to prove their worthiness. As a result, Rome had a very comfortable relationship with elves. During the Empire, elves were expected to follow Roman law, but specific exemptions were cut out for certain functions that the elves considered central to their culture."

"But when Christians took over the empire, those functions seemed to be rather pagan to the Christians," continued Harriet, "In order to keep practicing their customs, Elves began to congregate around large institutions that were not controlled by the Church. The Atlantean enclaves, or unconverted barbarians, were popular. But as the non-Christians were converted and the last Atlantean enclaves were destroyed, elves had fewer and fewer places to go outside of being under the direct supervision of wizards. In Britain the last Atlantean enclave was Avalon. When it went into hiding, the elves largely lost their cultural center. So when Alfred the Great and his heirs began suppressing magical society, elves were completely vulnerable. The Danish kings eased up on the oppression, but Edward the Confessor largely forced elves to be dependent on specific magical patrons. By the time of William the Conqueror, they were almost all in virtual slavery already."

"Not in Scotland though," said Hermione, "Hogwarts became the social center of the elves in Scotland. Elves there weren't enslaved until the Act of Union forced the Scottish magical government to be subsumed into the English one. Even today the elves of Hogwarts have more rights than other elves under the law."

"_Elves throughout the Ages of Man,_" mused Sirius, "I think I remember reading about that one actually. It was very popular before Grindelwald's war apparently, but afterwards any sort of pan-magical movement was seen as potentially dangerous. Some people literally raised the spectre of a joint elven/goblin/wizard army destroying the muggle world."

"Elves are victims of our insistence that we hide ourselves from muggles at any cost," said Harriet, "We enslaved them so they wouldn't make us higher profile in eras of persecution."

"And wizards kept them enslaved because it profited them," said Hermione angrily.

"Elves are a naturally helpful and kind people," said Harriet, "And we used this to make them bond to us. It's horrible."

"So are you saying I should free Kreacher?" asked Sirius jokingly.

"Of course not," said Harriet, "If you break the family bond at this point in his life it will kill him. It's a very traumatic experience for an elf."

"It was _designed_ to be a traumatic experience for an elf," said Hermione angrily, "They wanted the elves' desire to not be freed to be genuine."

"Well… that's actually really horrible," said Sirius, "I never thought about it that way. Maybe I should finish that book."

"You should," said Hermione.

"You should also schedule another day for Hermione to come over and finish her school work," said Harriet slyly, "as we didn't really do any of it today."

Sirius stared at Harriet for a moment, then shook his head in disbelief. "I guess you did warn me that you were going to cause trouble. Can't blame you though. This really was important. I'll broach the subject with your father, Hermione. Your mother will likely blow a fuse if I talk to her about it."

"Maybe we could convince Remus to give us some extra credit for our studies?" asked Harriet.

"That would never work…" said Harriet.

Sirius laughed as the two girls began to argue. This was a very different form of rebellion than he was used to. Or was it? Sirius thought of the day he had run away from home. He'd made that stand on principle.

Sirius smiled contently. Maybe that part of him had rubbed off on Harriet. Merlin knew, he didn't want anything else to.

XXXXX

Quirrell was not at all happy to be here. Ever since the day that the Dark Lord had invaded Hogwarts, he and Quirrell had been searching for a way to contact the dead. That had been the clue, that the spirits of the dead founders could point the way. Of course contacting those who had passed on was difficult, so the Dark Lord had searched high and low for a way to do so.

And in his search, he had discovered the Deathly Hallows. And a rumour that the Resurrection Stone was set on the Gaunt family ring. Which apparently the Dark Lord owned by right, but had hidden in this godforsaken shack.

Slowly, the Dark Lord removed the protections he had placed on the ring. After some time, he took the ring and did something to it that Quirrell couldn't see.

"Bring me the spirit of Salazar Slytherin," said the Dark Lord.

An image of a man appeared. Quirrell could feel the triumph that the Dark Lord felt. If only it didn't terrify him.

**Author's Note:** So there are three more chapters of Part 2. We are getting pretty close to the end of this part. So the good news is that the last three chapters are full of action. The bad news is that once I finish publishing Part 2 Harriet Potter will be going on hiatus until I can do rewrites for Part 3. Given that I am concentrating on Twisted Path right now, that might be a little while. Twisted Path is actually moving along at a good clip though, but there are approximately 24 chapters left to go still. That being said I will probably start publishing Part 3 around the time I start publishing year 7 of Twisted Path.

Next Time: Harriet sets a test for Morgan, and makes a move to discover the Path of the Founders.


	9. Looking for Answers

**Chapter 9: Looking for Answers**

Hermione was a bit anxious about going back to school. Not because she was afraid of what might happen there, but because she would almost certainly run into Ron again. She'd managed to deal with him well enough since Halloween, but she'd also made clear to him that she hadn't fully forgiven him for what had happened as well. However, she was now faced with a dilemma. Harriet was clearly hoping that she would forgive Ron, as anytime Harriet spent time with both of them was very awkward. But she hadn't asked Hermione to do so. And Hermione had finally come to the conclusion that she never would. Harriet would let her dictate the speed at which she forgave Ronald Weasley, if she did at all.

On the one hand, Hermione was grateful that Harriet hadn't put any pressure on her to do this. In fact, other than a handful of occasions, most of which had revolved around Harriet wanting both Hermione and Ron's advice, Harriet hadn't asked the two to spend time together at all. And Hermione didn't begrudge Harriet those situations, she could certainly put up with Ron while he was trying to help Harriet of all times!

But the fact was that Hermione really didn't want to forgive Ron. Not yet. She didn't want to hold a grudge against him forever, but the truth was he had been very hurtful, and while Hermione gave him some credit for charging to her rescue, it didn't erase what he'd put her through. She still felt she was entitled to shun the boy, at least a bit.

Yet, it was clearly hurting Harriet to see her two friends fighting this way. Hermione didn't want to hurt Harriet, yet she wasn't interested in being hurt herself. So, Hermione had asked her mother what to do. Her mother had been unequivocal, Hermione shouldn't do anything that made her uncomfortable. Yet Hermione couldn't help but detect some tiny trace of her mother's disdain for Harriet still present in that. So she only had one other person to turn to.

Her father nodded as he finished listening to what she had to say.

"Hmm, that's a tough one," admitted her father, "Your mother wasn't entirely off base, but I can understand why you might find her answer not satisfying. All close relationships have moments where we do things for people we care about because we are putting their needs before our own. It's just a part of being close to other people."

"But surely people who care about us wouldn't want us to suffer, right?" asked Hermione.

"Of course they don't," said Robert, "But it isn't that simple. Different people all have different priorities. It's up to all of us to figure out the way we deal with that. Remember when you got into that mud fight with Harriet?"

Hermione smiled as she remembered. "That was pretty fun."

"But you don't really like getting dirty like that," said Robert, "You enjoyed it because Harriet enjoyed it, and your mutual joy overrode the fact that you don't like to get covered in mud."

"That's true," said Hermione thoughtfully.

"I'm not telling you to forgive Ron or not," said Robert, "Only you can decide whether what he did was so hurtful that it prevents you from forgiving him. But you aren't wrong to want to balance Harriet's feelings against your own. It's very mature of you, and it's the sort of thing that a true friend would do."

XXXXX

"I'm not ready to forgive Ron," said Hermione to Harriet. The two of them were sitting with the other Gryffindor girls on the train, "I'm not saying I'm not going to, but I still can't quite get my head around what he said to me."

"I understand," replied Harriet immediately.

"Though, I want you to understand that I know that this puts you in an uncomfortable position," said Hermione, "And I understand that you may ask both Ron and myself for help. Please, don't hesitate to do so. If Ron is willing to help you out, I am willing to do so as well. I can work with Ronald Weasley if it means I am helping you, or any of my other friends really."

Harriet felt a profound sense of relief. She had been worried that Hermione was going to be too angry with Ron to work with him. Harriet was grateful that she was willing to put aside her differences with Ron in order to help Harriet.

"That means so much to me, Hermione," said Harriet, "I can't even… well I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything," interjected Lavender, "Just because you have questionable taste in friends, it doesn't mean that we will abandon you."

"Though why you couldn't have chosen someone less annoying as your friend, I don't know," said Fay, "What about Neville?"

"Neville isn't that interested in Quidditch," said Hermione, "I'm not saying she shouldn't be friends with Ron; they have a lot of the same interests. I don't though, so there honestly isn't anything pushing me to urgently make friends with him except our mutual friendship with Harry here."

Harriet hugged Hermione impulsively. "Thanks for understanding," she said.

"Just remember, if you're going to have another mud fight, please have it with Ron," begged Hermione pleadingly.

Harriet laughed.

XXXXX

"So Morgan was telling the truth?" asked Ron incredulously. It was their first day back, but Harriet wasn't going to waste any time on this. They needed to get the situation with Morgan settled soon.

Harriet nodded, "As far as such a thing being possible, sure," she said.

"That doesn't mean that she actually is an aware reincarnation of Morgan," insisted Hermione, "I still think we should tell Dumbledore about this."

"But if she is telling the truth, by telling the Headmaster we are killing any chance she might be able to help us," protested Ron, "There's no way that Dumbledore lets Morgana Pendragon help us search for the Grail!"

Hermione pursed her lips angrily. She was clearly not happy with that line of thought, but she couldn't deny the truth in it.

"So we confront her again," said Harriet, "Put her to the test, see if she is willing to be honest with us, and try to pressure her to come clean with Dumbledore. If she agrees, we can put off having her actually tell him until we've found the Grail. But if she doesn't agree then we go and tell him immediately."

"So if she agrees to tell Dumbledore we don't tell him?" asked Ron, "And if she doesn't agree we do?"

"That… actually makes sense," said Hermione, "If she thinks it's more important to get us to trust her than to keep her secret, then we can at least be relatively sure that she doesn't mean us any harm."

"No, we can't," disagreed Harriet, "But it's as close as we're going to get. But we have to sell this. So we challenge her hard on the details of her reincarnation, and when she starts to stonewall we ask her to tell Dumbledore. If she agrees she still might have figured out what we are doing, but maybe not. Everything is a risk, and Morgan is very perceptive."

Even Hermione had to agree that this was their best shot at figuring whether Morgan was on the up and up.

XXXXX

And that was how Harry, Hermione and Ron ended up confronting Morgan after their defense class that week.

"I wondered how long it would take you to talk to me about this," said Morgan.

"We're understandably sceptical," said Hermione.

"Quite understandably," admitted Morgan.

"Can you tell us more about this ritual?" asked Harriet.

"I'd prefer not to," said Morgan, "It isn't exactly Dark magic, but it is dangerous. I don't really approve of it."

"If you want us to trust you, you'll have to do better than that!" said Ron, "How do we even know that what you said is possible?"

Morgan sighed, but nodded her acknowledgement of the point. "Very well, it is an ancient Indian ritual. I wouldn't ever have known of it, but Merlin translated it into, well, not English, but old Norse. I suppose even if you did find his translation you couldn't read it, so I have that consolation."

"Hmmm, and how can we confirm this?" demanded Hermione, "How do we know this isn't all some elaborate story?"

"We could find the copy of the text that Merlin translated," said Morgan.

"It's lost," said Harriet.

"How could you know that…" started Morgan before she suddenly grinned, "Oho, you have done your research haven't you? You already know what ritual I used, you were just trying to catch me in a lie. I didn't know that the text of Merlin's translation was lost though."

Harriet grunted. If that was a lie, it was a really clever one. It was the one detail that Morgan might not know if she was telling the truth.

"How does the ritual work?" asked Ron.

"You do not need to know that," said Morgan firmly.

"We have to be able to know if we can trust you," said Harriet, "If you can't answer our questions, then maybe we should tell Dumbledore what you have told us."

Morgan's entire body seemed to sag. "I.. you are right," said Morgan, her voice sounding defeated, "You can't rely only on my word. We need to tell Dumbledore. I'm sorry, I should have done so already. I was just enjoying not having to deal with being myself. It's been nice, do you understand?"

Harriet looked at Hermione and Ron. Ron shrugged at Harriet, while Hermione took in a deep breath before nodding.

"All right, we'll tell Dumbledore," said Harriet, "AFTER we find the Grail."

"But I thought…" started Morgan, "I thought you needed Dumbledore to be certain of me."

"We probably do," said Harriet, "But then you won't be able to help us. If you'd said that we couldn't tell him about this we wouldn't be having this conversation anymore though. We'd be on our way to tell him. Right now."

For one moment, Morgan's face looked troubled. Then she shook her head. "That… that's actually fairly clever."

Harriet wondered. Was Morgan a good enough actor to fool her? Harriet couldn't be sure. But she'd made her choice. Now she just had to live with it.

XXXXX

Morgan's information had not been the big break that Harriet had hoped it would be.

Harriet suspected that wherever they had hidden the Grail, it was hidden in a place they had built immediately following Morgana's death. That in and of itself would seem to indicate that Morgan herself might not be that useful. But in truth, she should be useful. Aside from the new Great Hall, Morgan's attack had destroyed sections of the school some of which were rebuilt and others which were not, but there hadn't been a lot of new construction until years after the attack. The founders had concentrated on rebuilding areas that had been destroyed. But they would have hidden the Grail immediately. So essentially, Harriet knew which sections of the school the "place that comes and goes," had to be in. Probably. If it came and went, she had to admit she couldn't be sure even of that.

The problem was that this meant the entirety of the old main keep, both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor towers, the Great Hall and it's adjoined structures, and the dungeons, including the sealed off areas under the dungeons that held the Atlantean runestone. It was a huge area to cover. And Harriet didn't even understand what a "place that comes and goes" might be. She was utterly baffled by it.

And then Wood had begun to pressure her to spend more time on Quidditch. She couldn't very well say no to him either. For one thing, she couldn't let on that she was working on this, lest Dumbledore try to impede her. And for another thing, she really did want to be part of the Quidditch team, and she wanted to do well.

Still, Harriet believed that she would have more time to work on this after the next Quidditch match, so she prepared diligently, in the hope that she would be able to work on finding the Grail very soon.

The next match was the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff match and Harriet was determined to give a good showing.

XXXXX

Draco wasn't in a good mood. That was pretty normal for him these days, but it was worse today because of what he had just read. He wondered why Professor Snape had him read this drek.

"Something wrong?" asked Snape, with his usual sense of good timing.

"Why are you having me read this?" asked Draco, "It's just terrible. It denies the existence of many things that every decent wizard knows exist. Like magical cores, or powerful magical bloodlines."

"Magical cores don't exist," said Snape, "That has been indisputable since the early 1950's. Pureblood families like to pretend they do, because the test for it usually flatters them, but in truth it has been common magical knowledge that core readings are bunk for decades."

"If that's the case, why do purebloods still use them?" demanded Draco.

"Because rather than embrace an unpleasant truth, most purebloods would rather bury their heads in the sand," said Snape truthfully, "Most like to pretend that if they hide from the truth, things will just go back to the way things were. But they won't of course. They can't."

"That's what the Dark Lord did," said Draco, "He shook things up, tried to put the purebloods back in control of things."

"He certainly shook things up," said Snape, smiling without any humour or joy, "And it is vitally important that we understand that! The Dark Lord would not have us sit blindly obeying old theories that have no point. He was about creating a new order, based on a solid foundation of magical tradition and magical superiority."

"So what you are saying is that if we have evidence that shows us that one of these old magical beliefs is wrong, we should follow where that leads us?" said Draco.

"Well, we should do so within certain limits, certainly," said Snape, "Our traditions are important. They make the magical world what it is. What it has been for all time. We need to preserve what is important."

"Hence why purebloods should be in charge," said Draco.

Snape simply inclined his head at that.

"But why should we prevent muggleborns from learning magic in that case?" asked Draco, "There has to be more to it than that."

Snape hesitated then shook his head. "Well, preventing muggleborns from entering magical society is one way of preventing their negative effects on it."

"But you don't entirely agree," said Draco accusingly.

"I believe it was overkill," admitted Snape, "But I supported the Dark Lord anyway, as I believed overkill was worth it to enter a new era."

Draco nodded thoughtfully. "I'm surprised that he would tolerate such dissent," he said.

"It was not an opinion that I shared with anyone at the time," said Snape, "and I only share it with you to help you gain better control of yourself. Part of serving the Dark Lord involved putting one's own doubts aside and joining up with a cause for the good of everyone."

Draco considered that. That did sound admirable. He hoped the Dark Lord would return. Surely then the magical world would be put right. It needed someone who would put the interests of the whole magical world above their own petty interests.

"Is the Dark Lord still out there?" he asked.

Snape looked at Draco sharply. "Yes," he said quietly.

"Father doesn't think so," said Draco.

"On this matter, we disagree," said Snape, "Even Dumbledore agrees with me, the Dark Lord will one day try to return. That is why I stand ready, right where he put me."

And for the first time, Draco seemed to feel hope. Maybe he could be part of something bigger than himself. Maybe he could help put things to rights.

And suddenly he felt ashamed. His thoughtless actions had put all of that in jeopardy.

"I understand what I did wrong," said Draco, "I put my own selfish desires above what would be good for all wizards."

Snape gave him a long look. "Well, it's a start," he said cryptically.

"What does that mean?" asked Draco.

"It means that we have wasted enough time on this for today," said Snape, "Let's work on Herbology."

XXXXX

The Gryffindor/Hufflepuff Quidditch match was a cakewalk for Harriet. The Hufflepuffs weren't very good in general, and facing Harriet as seeker, they really had no chance. Gryffindor won 340 to 70. And with that, Wood was off Harriet's back, at least for a little while.

Which meant that Harriet, Hermione and Ron went back to Morgan to get more clues. But she didn't have anything to give them as they once again stood in her office.

"The main keep was fundamentally redesigned after I destroyed most of it," said Morgan, "It's a miracle that Gryffindor and Ravenclaw towers didn't fall down. There could be all manner of secret rooms that I know nothing about. Hell, there could be all manner of secret rooms from before I wrecked the place that I didn't know about. Pretty much no one other than Helga knew all this place's secrets. Salazar came close though, and apparently he built more into the school as they were rebuilding."

"We have to be missing something," said Harriet.

"How would the founders have gone about rebuilding?" asked Ron, "I mean building a structure like Hogwarts would take a lot of time and magic. And magical Britain was pretty devastated in the aftermath of Morgana's… I mean your wars."

"I assume they had help from the elves," said Morgan.

"Wait," said Hermione, "That's right. After Avalon disappeared, Helga allowed the elves to use Hogwarts as their cultural center. Surely that would take some time though?"

"It was almost two years in between the battles of Caemlyn and Hogwarts," said Morgana, "Avalon was sealed immediately after Caemlyn. By the time I attacked here, the elves had already begun to settle in. I'm certain they helped with the rebuilding."

Morgan's face grew distraught. "If I had known that my actions would have caused so much pain to the elves, I probably would have acted differently. I always liked them. But when I turned to The Darkness for power, Avalon shut me out. And when I began to take control of all of Britain, Avalon closed its doors to the world. The loss of Avalon was devastating to the elves. And it was my fault."

"Well…" started Hermione before Ron suddenly cut in.

"Wait, this was an elven cultural center?" asked Ron.

"Yes," said Hermione impatiently, "The elves of Scotland weren't fully subjugated until the Act of Union."

"Bloody hell, that's it! The elves!" said Ron. Everyone stared at him blankly.

"Well everyone knows that house elves are fanatically dedicated to their families, most of the time at least," said Ron, "A lot of elves come from a long line of elves that serve a single family. And they preserve tons of their family's history by passing it down elf to elf. What do you want to bet that the elves know more about the history of Hogwarts than anyone else?"

"Of course!" said Hermione excitedly, "Even if they don't remember where the Grail was put specifically, they probably could help us solve the riddle. They know more about the castle than anyone!"

"Well, it seems you have your course," said Morgan, "Now I have helped you far more than I was supposed to. I trust you can continue from here?"

"Thanks for the help!" said Harriet as the three Gryffindors ran out of Morgan's office for the kitchens.

XXXXX

In the kitchens they were surprised to find that Hagrid was already there.

"Harry, Hermione and Ron! What are you doin' down here?" asked Hagrid.

"We came to ask the elves a question," said Harriet, "And yourself?" Harriet managed to keep her tone light enough that it didn't sound like a challenge but more a friendly inquiry.

"Well," said Hagrid, "this year I've taken upon myself t' raise a fair number of critters out in the forest. But the centaurs don't want 'em competing fer game, so I've taken t' getting meat from the kitchens t' feed 'em. A few of 'em are a mite picky though."

"Sounds interesting," said Harriet.

"It is!" said Hagrid enthusiastically.

Putting Hagrid's mission aside, Harriet turned to the elves, who had started staring at her expectantly. Well she had just said that she wanted to ask them a question.

"So, who would I talk to about finding a specific place here at Hogwarts?" asked Harry.

An older elf broke from the main group. "I'm's called Jinxy. How can I serve young masters?"

"So we're trying to solve a riddle," said Hermione, "Harriet was told to seek… what was it Harriet?"

"The place that comes and goes," said Harriet.

Jinxy smiled, "The Come and Go room! Yes, we know it. Room does not show up all the time, only when it is needed. It always has what is required of it in it. That is why some call it the Room of Requirement. Us elves use it as a lost and found, but it has whatever you might need in it."

"Including the entrance to the Path of the Founders?" asked Ron.

Jinxy blinked. "Maybe, maybe. The room was built when they began to rebuild after Dark Witch Morgana's attack."

"Wait, you know what the Path of the Founders is?" asked Harriet.

Jinxy nodded, "Helga Hufflepuff charged the elves to not mention it to those who did not know, but you know, so we can talk. I'm afraid we've forgotten everything else about it though."

"Are ye going after the Grail, Harry?" asked Hagrid

"Don't try to stop me Hagrid," said Harriet. The giant man shook his head at her.

"I wouldn't do that Harriet," said Hagrid, "I know Dumbledore has his reasons fer not wantin' you goin' after the Grail, but I can't see the harm in it. I figure he's just worried 'bout you is all. You go get the Grail, and we'll make sure it's safe right away."

"Thanks Hagrid," said Harriet gratefully.

"Don't mention it," he said.

"So how do we find this Room of Requirement?" asked Harriet turning to Jinxy.

XXXXX

Aberforth Dumbledore was not an exceptionally friendly man. He ran the Hog's Head begrudgingly. It was a dingy pub with a dingy clientele, and that was how he liked it. It attracted a sort that didn't like to be bothered, as well as a few regulars.

Hagrid, on the other hand, was a bit of a boisterous fellow. But he was a regular, and Abe liked him despite everything. The man overly venerated his brother, but Abe couldn't blame the man for that. Albus had rather single handedly saved Hagrid from being driven into the muggle world, one of the few actions that Abe totally agreed with his brother about. Hagrid had deserved better than he'd gotten, and Albus had done all he could for the man.

"Give me pint Abe," said Hagrid, "I've had a good day today!"

"Have you?" asked Abe as he began to pour Hagrid a drink.

"Got a good supply of meat ter feed those French manticores," said Hagrid, "Would you believe that the French keepers taught them t'only eat cooked meat?"

"Crazy Frogs," said Abe.

"Ah, I wouldn't go that far," said Hagrid, "But it was bloody odd all the same. Makes feedin' 'em tough, that's fer sure. Don't quite consider it natural for a carnivorous creature to refuse to eat good meat either, but that's another matter."

"Manticores are magical hybrids," said Abe, "There isn't anything natural about them!"

"Well I suppose," said Hagrid, "But they've been around a long time now haven't they?"

Abe handed Hagrid his drink. "Here you go Hagrid," he said, "anything else going on up at Hogwarts."

Hagrid laughed. "Oh yeah, I got one ye'll like. So apparently Harriet Potter, she's got some kind of mission ter find the Holy Grail or somesuch."

"The Grail has been lost since the days of the Founders," said Aberforth dismissively.

"Yeah, but apparently Harry's descended from Percival, and this means that she can find the clues that were hidden in the school," said Hagrid, probably louder than he'd intended.

A cloaked figure in the back seemed to start at this news. Aberforth narrowed his eyes.

"Maybe this isn't the best place for this Hagrid," said Aberforth.

"Ah, it won't matter in a bit," said Hagrid, "Harry thinks she's located where the Grail is kept. She'll have it in her possession 'afore long."

"That would be interesting, if true," said Aberforth, carefully eyeing that cloaked customer. They didn't move again, but a few minutes later they paid and left. Aberforth put the whole thing out of his head. He'd probably just been imagining things.

XXXXX

"Why are we doing this at night?" whispered Hermione as they crept down to the Gryffindor common room.

"So Dumbledore can't interfere," said Harriet.

"If we don't tell anyone…" said Hermione.

"Hagrid knows," said Harriet, "I love Hagrid dearly, but the man can't keep a secret for the life of him. We have hours, not days, hours, before Hagrid accidentally tells Dumbledore what we are doing. And from then on that area of the castle will be under constant guard."

"Have you considered that maybe Dumbledore is right about this?" asked Hermione.

"Of course I have!" snapped Harriet irritably, "But the founders tasked me with this job. I know there are dangers, but I have to assume that Voldemort is making progress figuring out what to do as well. I… well, I kind of feel as if Voldemort is my responsibility, if that makes any sense."

"It's completely mental if you ask me," said Ron, who had descended from the boys dormitories, "But that's just my opinion. You can't be held responsible for everything that You-Know-Who does."

"No, but maybe I am responsible for stopping him," said Harriet, "I say it and it feels right."

"Maybe you just want revenge," suggested Hermione, "Voldemort took so much from you after all. It would only be natural."

Harriet considered this. "I don't think that's it," she finally said, "I just don't want to see him hurt anyone else."

"Anyways, how are we going to get to the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy?" asked Ron, "Sneaking around after hours isn't exactly something we want to get caught doing."

Harriet pulled out her invisibility cloak. "Don't worry, the legacy of the Marauders will get us through."

"Blimey, that's an invisibility cloak!" said Ron.

"Harriet…" said Hermione anxiously.

"We'll be fine," said Harriet, looking Hermione in the eyes.

Hermione looked back worriedly, but ultimately nodded. This had to be done.

XXXXX

McGonagall once again felt uneasy. Something about the school felt wrong again tonight. So she decided to do a quick patrol. And on that patrol, she saw none other than Morgan.

"Couldn't sleep?" asked McGonagall.

"I have a bad feeling about tonight," said Morgan, "I don't know what. My fears are probably groundless…"

"Not a bad thing to be vigilant, given what has happened this year," said McGonagall.

Albus walked up again.

"Something wrong Albus?" asked McGonagall.

"That's the odd part," said the Headmaster, "I can't find anything. The wards are whispering, as if something powerful approaches, but I don't see any signs of tampering."

"Odd," said Morgan.

"What brings you here Morgan?" asked the Headmaster, looking at Morgan pointedly.

"I may have made a mistake," admitted Morgan, "I am just trying to be sure that I haven't."

"What sort of…?" started Dumbledore. He was suddenly interrupted by a soft chiming.

"The wards have been breached!" said McGonagall, utterly surprised.

"Someone has indeed forced their way onto the grounds," agreed Dumbledore grimly, "How desperate must he be to do this? Why now? Morgan, do you know…"

There was a sharp crack. Dumbledore trailed off as he turned to where Morgan had stood a moment before. She was gone.

XXXXX

"What is that chiming?" asked Ron as the three Gryffindors made their way up to the seventh floor.

"I don't know," said Hermione, "I have never heard it before."

"It's the wards," said Harriet, "He's here."

"WHAT!?" shouted both Ron and Hermione at the same time.

"Hagrid probably said something in the pub tonight," said Harriet, "It wouldn't be the first time. Fine, it's now a race. But we're already here."

And indeed they were in front of a portrait of a man trying to teach trolls ballet. Harriet dropped the invisibility cloak and folded it up and put it in her robes.

"So we get in by passing this three times and thinking about what we need," said Hermione.

_I need the path of the Founders, _thought Harriet as she walked past the painting three times.

A door appeared in front of them.

"Fantastic!" said Harriet, "Now we just have to go in. I doubt that it's that simple, though."

Ron and Hermione nodded.

Suddenly there was a sharp crack in the hallway.

"Harriet!" said an urgent voice from behind them, "What are you doing?"

Harriet turned to see Morgan standing there, her face concerned.

"This is the Path of the Founders," said Harriet, "I'm going after the Grail."

"But why is Voldemort attacking the school?" demanded Morgan.

"I don't know," said Harriet, "But it's a race now."

"This is too dangerous," said Morgan, "you have to…"

They never found out what they had to do, as Morgan suddenly collapsed, stunned from behind. Behind her was a cloaked man. But as she looked at him, Harriet's scar suddenly burned.

"It's Quirrell and Voldemort!" yelled Harriet, "Through the door NOW!"

Suddenly the door threw itself open. Quirrell started running towards the door as Harriet, Ron and Hermione went through it. As soon as Harriet was through though, all light vanished.

"Hermione? Ron?" she called out.

There was no answer. Harriet was alone.

**Author's Note:**

Yes Morgan just apparated on Hogwarts grounds. It will be explained in Chapter 11. Suffice to say, Morgan's knowledge is extremely complete on certain topics.

Next Time: Harry, Ron and Hermione face tests from the founders.


	10. The Path of the Founders

**Chapter 10: The Path of the Founders**

Ron looked around the room he had found himself in. It looked a lot like his dorm in Gryffindor Tower. Had he been teleported back here? But it was day here, not night. No, there was something else going on here. Then he remembered that the Room of Requirement could become whatever it needed to. So the Room had become Gryffindor Tower because it needed to. But why? And why, for that matter, had Harriet and Hermione disappeared?

Something was up, but Ron was totally baffled by it. Clearly they had failed to find the Path of the Founders. So what was this place?

"Ron, what are you doing?" asked a familiar voice.

"Harriet," he replied gratefully, "There you are! I thought you'd disappeared!"

"There was no way I would leave everyone here, not when you all need me so much," said Harriet, "But I'm going to need your help. I need to get to Voldemort."

"You need to get to You-Know-Who?" asked Ron.

"I'm the only one who can stop him," said Harriet desperately, "But no else is willing to help me get to him! I need your help."

"Well," stuttered Ron, "Of course I'll help as best as I can. I can't believe that Hermione abandoned you though."

"Oh Ron, he captured her!" said Harriet, her voice nearly breaking, "We have to save her! We have to stop Voldemort!"

"Right!" said Ron, gathering his courage. He'd already failed Hermione once, he couldn't do so again. Not if he was going to win her friendship back.

"Let's go!" said Harriet, leading the way.

XXXXX

Hermione looked around. The place she was in was not familiar. It was a long hallway, with thick blue carpet, and rather ornate looking wallpaper. There were many doors, and each had a letter over the door. A different letter. In alphabetical order. Hermione squinted. The hall seemed to curve slightly, so she couldn't see the end of it. She began to walk down the hall.

She walked for some time, but she didn't come to an end of the hallway. Looking at the closest door, she saw that it had the letter F over it. She continued down the corridor. Each door had a different letter over it. But eventually, she came around to F again.

"I'm going in circles," she noted to herself. She turned around and walked back to the door labeled A. Opening it she found a long dark hallway. Gathering her courage, she began to make her way down the passage. Soon she was walking in almost total darkness, only the dim light of the corridor she had come from lighting the way. Just as she thought that the little light she had was about to fail, she came to a door. She grabbed an old ivory door knob and turned it, opening the door.

Inside was a small, mostly empty grey room. It was dimly lit from a frosted over skylight. In the center of the room was a woman with dark hair whom Hermione didn't recognize. She was veiled, and her skin was grey.

"Excuse me?" asked Hermione, "Where am I?"

"You are in the place to which you have come," said the woman, her voice deadpan.

"Is this the Path of the Founders?" asked Hermione.

"It is part of it," said the woman, "But only the part I have created."

"My friends?" asked Hermione.

The woman smiled, "In other sections. As is your pursuer. They are all separated. For now."

"You seem very willing to aid me," said Hermione suspiciously.

"I am not here to test your loyalty, or courage," said the woman, "I was left here by Rowena Ravenclaw. I am here to test your intellect. I see no reason not to give you information that sets your mind at ease. You will need to think clearly to escape here. Each founder left a test to restrict access to the Grail."

"So we have to pass all four tests?" asked Hermione.

"It is rather that all four tests must be passed," said Ravenclaw's messenger, "Once a test is passed, it is passed for good, and anyone may move by it."

"Which means…" said Hermione.

"Currently the boy is in the test of courage, the girl is in the test of loyalty, and your pursuer is in the test of ambition."

"Fantastic," said Hermione, "Just great. So how do I proceed?"

"You just find the exit," said Ravenclaw's messenger, "Without me giving you too many hints."

"I'm allowed some hints?" asked Hermione.

"Remember your manners," said the messenger.

"The puzzle doesn't require me to know Old Norse or anything, does it?" asked Hermione.

The messenger laughed. "No, it will appear in your own language."

Hermione nodded. Well, this should be right up her alley! But how could she defeat this before Voldemort completed a test of ambition?

XXXXX

Harriet looked around. This place, it looked familiar. She had never been in this room before, she was pretty sure, yet she felt as if she had somehow. There was a bed, some posters on the walls. Quidditch posters. This felt like it was her room.

"Harriet, it's time for breakfast," called a voice from downstairs. It was a woman's voice, one she hadn't heard before, yet still sounded familiar.

Harriet walked out of her room into the hallway. And that was when she recognized the place she was at. She hadn't recognized the room she had been in before, because the one time she had been in it the roof had been blown off. This was Potter Cottage in Godric's Hollow. That meant the voice she had heard was…

"Mum!" she cried out her joy just exploding into tears as she ran downstairs. When Harriet arrived though, she saw _her_, standing by the stove. She looked older than she had in the pictures Sirius had shown her of course. But it was her mother. Alive. Without thinking, Harriet ran and hugged her as hard as she could.

"Hey sweetie, what's wrong?" Lily Potter asked gently.

"I just…" said Harriet, "I was somewhere else, at Hogwarts and Voldemort was chasing me, and you were dead and…"

"Shhh... " shushed Lily gently, "It's all right. Voldemort is dead. He died trying to kill Neville Longbottom four years ago. Those years won't come again. I promise you. We can be together now, for all our lives if need be. It was just a bad dream."

Harriet nodded, not quite believing it.

"Harriet, is something wrong?" asked another voice. It was her father. James Potter stood in the door, coming in from the garden. And suddenly, Harriet had let go of her mother and was hugging her father. They were alive! Was this the power of the Grail? Had she done this? It didn't seem possible, but maybe unlocking the Grail had set things right.

"I… I just think I had a bad dream…" said Harriet as she buried her face in her father's shoulder.

XXXXX

Ron followed Harriet down onto the grounds. "How bad are things?" he asked.

"Bad," replied Harriet, "The Death Eaters have rallied to Voldemort, along with dark wizards from around the world. They've besieged Hogwarts, demanding we hand over the Atlantean keystone. Still, we can defeat him if I can get to Voldemort. The magic that defeated him before? I still have it. And if I bring it to bear on him properly this time, I can destroy him. But he knows this. It's going to take all my cunning to deal with him."

Something was very wrong with this, Ron had to admit. Surely You-Know-Who hadn't had time to do all this without anyone hearing about it. "Wait, why don't you just use your invisibility cloak?" he asked.

"Voldemort took it when we went into the Path of the Founders," said Harriet, "I guess you don't remember that. You've been unconscious for days. Things went bad fast once he came back. All sorts of bad people rallied to his cause."

"Oh," said Ron. That might explain the discrepancies, but it still didn't seem quite right.

"I have to ask a big favour of you, Ron," said Harriet, her voice uncertain.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I need you to create a distraction," said Harriet, "I know it will be dangerous for you! I'm sorry, but I have to get past his guards before they catch me. Try not to get yourself hurt, but I need to sneak past the guard station."

Ron swallowed. It would indeed be very dangerous. If these were real dark wizards, Ron doubted that they'd have any problem casting dangerous or deadly spells on a child. Still, he knew Harriet wouldn't ask this lightly. She wasn't one to put her friends in danger if she could avoid it.

"I'll try my best," promised Ron.

He ran ahead. He wasn't sure he knew any spells that could even inconvenience fully trained wizards, but he had to try. Soon he saw two wizards, both clearly keeping watch.

"Hey!" shouted Ron, running forward and off to one side trying to lead their eyes away from the path Harriet would have to tread.

"Get lost kid," said the watch wizard, "we can't let you through."

"But I, uh, want to be a Death Eater," he said, "I figured this is my chance to join up!"

The guard smirked evilly. "So, you want to torture mudbloods with us?" The other guard laughed.

"Oh, definitely," lied Ron in a voice that very much said he was lying. Dammit! Why was he such a terrible liar?

He saw Harriet slip behind the two guards and make her way past them. At least he'd done that.

"Well, in that case let's take you to the boss," said the first guard mockingly, "_Stupefy!"_

Ron's world went black again.

XXXXX

Hermione quickly considered her situation. It was clear that this was some sort of puzzle. But she didn't know the rules. So the first thing she would need to do was experiment. Heading back to the blue hallway she opened the next door down the Hallway. It was labeled B. Behind that door was also a dark passage way. Hermione followed it to its end, at another door. She opened the door, and inside…

It was the same room, with the same woman. The woman looked up and smiled.

_So this place doesn't follow the rules of the physical universe,_ thought Hermione. Well that could be useful. Spatially this place might not make sense, but it was designed entirely as a puzzle. So that meant if she did something right, she'd probably know it.

She opened every door as she went down the main hallway. C,D,E, and F were all the same. But G was different. When she followed G to it's end this time when she opened the door she suddenly fell forward. Landing on her face, she stood up. She was back in the hallway.

"What do I want to bet that that is what happens when you do something right?" spoke Hermione aloud.

Curious, she decided to head down passageway G again. This time when she came to the door and opened it, and the room was there again. With the woman, who looked up and smiled at her shaking her head.

"Start again," said the woman.

So she had to do it in the right order, without making any mistakes. _Fantastic_, thought Hermione, _that's all I need._

XXXXX

Despite her enthusiasm for meeting her parents, Harriet somehow felt that something was wrong. It was a nagging sense of something in the back of her head. Hadn't Ron and Hermione been with her before? What had happened to them?

Ultimately, her mother had declared that Harriet needed to get out for a bit, and sent her packing from the house. It was a warm summer day, and Harriet guessed that exploring the neighborhood would be fun. And hey, if this was a world in which her parents had never died, maybe the Grangers still lived in town!

As Harriet left her house, she waved at Bathilda Bagshot. Sirius had introduced her to the old woman, who had known many stories about her father. She had always liked her. Bathilda smiled and waved back as she went back to puttering around in her garden.

It really was a beautiful day. The sun was out, and many children were playing in the street. Harriet sort of felt like playing with some of them, but she wanted to see if Hermione was in town or not. So she made her way down the street. Not far away, she saw an empty lot. Funny, she had remembered there being a house here on her last trip to Godric's Hollow.

Harriet went back to Bathilda's house.

"Good morning Mrs. Bagshot!" said Harriet anxiously.

"Good morning Harriet," said Bathilda happily, "Isn't it a beautiful day?"

"It really is, you have no idea," said Harriet, managing not to tear up, "What is up with that empty lot over there. There used to be a house there right?"

Bathilda's face fell. "You were quite young back then, but yes, there was a house there. The Grangers lived there. A pretty nice muggle couple the Grangers were. Helen and Robert. They had a daughter, Hermione was her name I recall. A witch. Good people, the Grangers. But… well Helen and Robert left years back."

"What happened?" asked Harriet curiously.

"Oh Harriet, I'd really rather not talk about it," said Bathilda.

Harriet's blood went cold. "Please, tell me," she begged.

Bathilda nodded. "I understand, child. Best to look these things in the face, so we don't forget. The Death Eaters found out Hermione was a witch. A muggleborn witch. So they came. And well, they burnt the place to the ground. Helen and Robert escaped, but young Hermione, she… well she didn't get out."

Harriet felt the strength go out of her legs. "No…" she said weakly as she fell to the floor.

"Oh, it's a common story all over Britain," said Bathilda, "but it speaks so well of you that it affects you so badly still. So many good people lost their lives in those dark years."

Harriet was stunned. The Grail had healed her pain, her suffering. But at what cost? Had it simply rewritten history so that the burden of pain was shifted to others?

"How many?" asked Harriet, her voice somehow managing to remain steady.

"3,000, in the magical world at least," said Bathilda, "Of course tens of thousands of muggles died. We had to convince them it was a plague of some sort of course."

There were only 10,000 witches and wizards in Britain. Which meant…

"So magical Britain is dying," said Harriet.

Bathilda nodded. "I don't see how we ever recover from that, no," she admitted, "But that's okay, we'll all die out in a few generations, but you won't have to see that."

Harriet stood up on her feet. What had she done? And how could she fix it?

XXXXX

Ron woke up. He was in the Forbidden Forest. What was going on? Then he remembered. He'd been creating a distraction for Harriet. He didn't have his wand.

"So, our wannabe Death Eater has awoken," said a soft sibilant voice. Ron turned his head to see a man who's face had slits like a snake instead of a nose. You-Know-Who!

"Uh, that's right!" said Ron, puffing himself up as much as he could as he took his feet.

"Well I'm always on the lookout for new talent," said You-Know-Who, "How about a test?"

Suddenly, Hermione was dragged out from the forest. Her clothes were worn and tattered, and looked as if she had been wearing them for days. "Ron!" she shouted in a surprised voice before her mouth was covered up by the hand of the wizard dragging her.

"Why don't you torture her?" asked You-Know-Who.

"I'm only a first year," said Ron, "I don't know any spells that do that."

"Fair enough," said You-Know-Who, "We could give you a knife. I'll admit, that is messier, but it would get the job done. Gut the mudblood."

Ron cringed, unable to even conceive of doing that. Hermione whimpered as she was held in place.

"No? I'm starting to think that you did not come here to join us," said You-Know-Who to the laughs of his Death Eaters, "I'm thinking you came here to distract me."

Ron's heart sank.

With a wave to his Death Eaters, You-Know-Who stepped to one side. Two more wizards approached, carrying Harriet between them, bound and gagged.

"It was a good plan she had," said You-Know-Who, "Bellatrix tortured it out of her. She meant to try and get me to use magic on her again, so the protection in her blood would break me again. It would have worked."

With unearthly speed, You-Know-Who leapt forward. He placed his hands on either side of Harriet's head. And with one swift twist, he snapped her neck.

"NO!" roared Ron as Harriet's body slumped to the ground.

"And that is that," said You-Know-Who, "But you are another matter. You are a pureblood. It is not your fault that you have been fed poison all your life. Reject the teaching of Dumbledore and the muggle lovers."

He placed the knife in Ron's hands, then stepped back. "Kill the mudblood, join us, and we will let you live."

Ron looked at the knife in his hands. And then he looked at Voldemort. It wasn't even a question what he was going to do, even though it was hopeless. Ron took a step forward, as if he was heading towards Hermione, then lunged at Voldemort with the knife.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" screamed the Dark Lord, as Ron closed his eyes.

And nothing happened.

He opened his eyes. He was in a room. Behind him was an open door, and on that same wall were three more doors. In front of him was a large space, and at the end of it was a raised dais. Some shimmery force was between him and the dais, but on the dais was a pedestal, and on the pedestal was a large golden cup.

"The Grail," said Ron.

"Yes," said a voice. Ron turned to see a man walk out from the door behind him. No, not a man, a shadow of a man, a memory.

"I am Godric Gryffindor," said the shade, "And you have passed my test of courage. In the face of unbeatable odds you buckled down and continued to fight, no matter that you had no way to win. And in doing so, you defeated your fear of Voldemort."

Ron suddenly realized that this was true. He was no longer scared of Voldemort's name.

"Three tests remain," said Gryffindor's shade before vanishing.

Leaving Ron alone.

XXXXX

Hermione thought she had something when she realized that the pattern was G then O. After careful thought she wondered what it might be. Was it a command? Was she supposed to go someplace? But then there was the hint she'd been given. Mind her manners. Was it goodbye?

She ran through door G, then when she was dragged back into the hall, she ran to hall O. This time she managed to keep her feet as she leapt through the portal at the end of the hall. She was getting good at this. She ran back to door O and ran down the passage behind it. Opening the door, she leapt through…

Only to fall on her bum on the floor of the room with the woman in it.

"Ouch," she said, resisting the urge to rub her sore backside in front of this strange shade. She had been so sure that it would work! It made so much sense! But was that the problem, was it too easy? Maybe she didn't have the knowledge to beat this puzzle!

Hermione shook her head. That wasn't possibly true. After all, this test was in English! Surely Ravenclaw would have developed a test using Old Norse or Latin if it was based on specific knowledge. Which meant the test was tailored to Hermione. And what _she_ knew. What she knew...

The word goodbye was actually originally a contraction! If used in its full proper form it meant…

"God be with you," she said.

"Well done," said the woman. Hermione looked around to find that she was in another room, with four doors leading out, and a large golden cup on a pedestal at the other end. Ron stood up quickly when he saw her.

"I am Rowena Ravenclaw's shade," said the woman, "And you have passed the Test of Intellect. It is not just facts, but one's ability to reason through a situation that determines one's intelligence. Always keep a critical mind."

And Rowena disappeared.

Ron ran over to her and extended his hand to her, helping Hermione to her feet. She blushed as she realized she was still on the floor, and her backside still hurt. Well, she wasn't about to rub it in front of Ronald Weasley either.

But the moment that she was on her feet, Ron threw his arms around her.

"You're all right!" he said, the relief in his voice palpable, "It was so real. They killed Harry, and they wanted me to torture you, but instead I tried to kill Voldemort, and then he cast the killing curse at me and then I was here. Oh, Merlin I am so sorry! I am so sorry! I never, ever meant to hurt you!"

Hermione was shocked to find that Ron was almost on the verge of tears. Apparently in his test Voldemort had killed Harriet in front of Ron?

She wrapped her arms around him. No matter what he had done, that had to have been horrible.

"It's all right," said Hermione, "It wasn't real. And I know you wouldn't torture me."

She pulled away from the hug. "Okay Weasley, I forgive you. That was one hell of an apology."

"Uh, yeah, I got carried away there," he said, his face turning kind of red, "If you wouldn't tell Harry about this, I'd be grateful."

"She'd think it was sweet," said Hermione.

"Harry?" Ron asked, "She doesn't want anything to do with anything mushy like that."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Ron, your heart is in the right place, but you have a lot to learn about girls."

Ron blinked, not understanding. Hermione dropped it. But she did note that Ron's reaction was one of relief. Wait, that only made sense if he was...

Suddenly Hermione put Ron's friendship with Harriet in a whole new light. He _liked_ her. Well, she might have forgiven Ron, but that didn't mean she thought he was good enough for her friend!

"You definitely have a lot to learn about girls," said Hermione, her smile turning absolutely vicious.

XXXXX

Harriet ran back into Potter Cottage. "This is wrong, it's all wrong!" she screamed as she ran to her mother.

"What?" asked Lily Potter, catching Harriet before she could run upstairs, "What is wrong?"

"Hermione was killed," wailed Harriet, "The magical world is in ruins! That's what is wrong!"

"Hermione?" asked Lily, "The girl from down the street? Oh, yes, I remember you used to be friends…"

"SHE WAS MY BEST FRIEND!" screamed Harriet, "WE WENT TO HOGWARTS TOGETHER! AND THEN I HAD TO LOOK FOR THE GRAIL!"

Harriet slumped against the wall. "It made my life better, but what about everyone else's life? What happened to the Weasleys?"

"The Weasleys? I don't understand," said LIly.

"I have to know, please," begged Harriet.

"They... they were killed," said Lily, "The Death Eaters wiped out the whole family as a message to other 'blood traitors."

Harriet screamed again, this time a wordless mess of rage and anger. She fell to the floor again.

"It's too much," she said, "It's too much."

"Oh, but honey, we're still alive," said her mother. Lily Potter lifted Harriet's face up to look into her eyes.

"That's all that matters dear," said Lily.

"No," said Harriet, her eyes going hard, "It isn't. Hermione and Ron are my friends! And I won't accept this! I can't accept a world where my life is fixed and everything else is ruined! I WANT IT BACK!"

Harriet leapt to her feet, but suddenly she wasn't in Potter Cottage anymore. She was in a strange room with four doors and Hermione and Ron were staring at her.

"I am Helga Hufflepuff," said a voice. Harriet turned to face what seemed to be a shade of the Founder.

"You have passed the Test of Loyalty," said Helga, "you refused to benefit from the destruction of your friends, putting their needs over your most desperate desire." And then the shade vanished.

Harriet ran into the room and threw her arms around both Ron and Hermione.

"Bad?" asked Ron.

"My parents were alive, but you both were dead," said Harriet, "I will admit, I was tempted. I wanted to stay."

"But you didn't," said Hermione, "You came back for us."

"But now you face a greater peril," said another voice, this one more familiar to Harriet.

"Percival!" she shouted, as his shade descended from the dais.

"You have little time," said Percival's shade, "The one you call Voldemort is facing Slytherin's trial of ambition."

"Is he passing it?" asked Harriet.

"No," said Percival, "But it doesn't matter. He has the power to break through anyway. And then only my protection will stop him from claiming the Grail. And it might do that, for a short while. But you need help! Ron, Hermione, you must go and get help. One of you must hold the door open, while the other finds the Headmaster. Quickly! Otherwise Harriet will face this next trial alone."

"But…" said Hermione.

"He's right," said Ron, "Neither of us can do anything against Voldemort. We have to get Dumbledore!"

"I'll hold the line here," assured Harriet, "Now go!"

And with a worried look on her face, Hermione followed Ron back through the trial of Courage.

"Thanks," Harriet said to Percival, "They wouldn't have left otherwise."

"No they wouldn't have," said Percival, "Do not approach the dais until Voldemort tries to do so! If you do, you will take the test first. I believe you will pass! And then the Grail will be unprotected. Still, my power cannot hold out against him forever, so once he makes his attempt, use his disorientation as a chance to take the test and get between him and the Grail. Do not let him touch it!"

Harriet nodded.

Suddenly, the door to the trial of ambition exploded inward. And Quirrell stepped through the door. His cloak was thrown back. And Harriet could see Voldemort's face on the back of his head.

"You failed Slytherin's test," said Percival, "luckily for you, he thought an explosive display of power was also worth a pass... of sorts."

Quirrell advanced halfway across the room. He suddenly stopped, as if he could hear something. Then he turned around so that Voldemort's face on the back of his head faced Harriet.

"You seek to stop me taking the Grail, girl?" asked Voldemort.

"You can try to take it," said Harriet, "It probably won't judge you worthy."

"How dare you!" snarled Voldemort, "Your insolence will be punished!"

"Oh please, you already intend to kill me," said Harriet, unimpressed, "The only question is, can you?"

Voldemort nearly cast a spell on her then and there, but he suddenly stopped, then began to laugh.

"Nice try, Potter," said Voldemort, his eyes looking her over shrewdly, "I know your game. I'll just take the Grail and be gone."

He strode up to the dais. "I will have the Grail! And I will be reborn to my full power!"

"Only one who seeks the Grail wanting not glory, nor riches nor power will attain it," shouted Percival, "You are not worthy!"

And suddenly Voldemort was hurled back, and slammed against the wall between the test of intellect and ambition.

And then, Harriet knew it was her time to move. She stepped up to the dais.

"I just want to stop him from getting it," said Harriet.

"And with that unselfish reason, you are worthy of the Grail, Harriet Potter," said Percival quietly, "My magic is now spent. Yet, you contain the power to defeat the Dark Lord, Harriet. You know what I speak of…"

Percival simply faded away, and with him the barrier between Harriet and the Grail.

Voldemort stumbled to his feet. He was still unsteady. Harriet took her position between Voldemort and the Grail. When he saw her his eyes narrowed.

"Quirrell!" shouted Voldemort, "GO!"

"No master," cried Quirrell, "I can't!"

"GO!" screamed the Dark Lord. And then Quirrell screamed as well as the man stumbled forward towards the Grail.

Harriet leapt into the way, grabbing Quirrell by the wrist. Quirrell screamed in agony again as his wrist began to smoke. It was disintegrating right before Harriet's eyes.

"My mother's sacrifice still hurts you!" screamed Harriet, suddenly understanding what she had to do. She slapped Quirrell across the face. Quirrel and Voldemort both screamed as they staggered backwards.

"Get the Grail and we can be healed," screamed Voldemort. Quirrell lunged for the Grail one last time, but Harriet grabbed his face and held on. Even Voldemort couldn't stand up to that. He screamed as Quirrell's body began to fully disintegrate. Suddenly Harriet felt a rush of air. Voldemort was back in his wraith form! She tried to steel herself against him. Suddenly she felt him flee. Harriet sank to the ground. She was utterly spent, her entire body ached, and she was terrified. Was he coming back? She nearly fell unconscious. Her vision was clouding over.

"No dear girl, not yet," said an elderly, yet unfamiliar voice, "Stay with me but a moment."

She heard the sound of metal scraping stone. Whoever this was, they had the Grail!

"_Aguamenti,_" cast the man. Harriet heard the sound of water being poured into a metal cup. And suddenly the Grail was in front of her face. She looked up at the person offering it to her, but through her clouded vision she could not see his face.

"Drink," he said, "Drink, and you shall be restored."

So Harriet drank. And for one moment, she felt utterly content. It was as if all her hurts had gone away. She closed her eyes in ecstasy.

And when she opened them, the man was gone. All that was left was the Grail, filled with water and sitting on the ground in front of her.

**Author's Note: **The trials were actually something that it took me a long time to come up with. Harriet's trial was something I more or less knew was going to happen early in the planning stages, but Ron and Hermione's trials were not. I wanted to do something different from the obstacle course you usually see from a first year narrative.

There is one more chapter in Holy Grail, and I will publish it after I have published the next four chapters of Twisted Path.


	11. The Only Choice

**Chapter 11: The Only Choice**

Harriet picked up the Grail. It was less ornate than she had anticipated, even for a gold cup. Still, Harriet could attest to its power. She felt… better was the only word that she could use to describe it. So many minor aches and pains that she had suffered ever since her uncle's abuse had begun were gone. And there was another surprise, the thought of her uncle no longer brought the vague fear and burning anger that it once had. Now she simply felt sad, sad that he had hurt her, and sad that he couldn't bring himself to care for her as family. She certainly no longer desired to hurt him.

"Body, Mind and Soul," said Harriet.

"Very good, Harriet," said the voice of the Headmaster, "That is what the legend said, is it not?"

She looked up. Dumbledore was there, with Ron and Hermione behind him. Moments later McGonagall, Snape and Morgan followed.

"Voldemort is gone," stated Harriet, "He's back in his wraith form or whatever. Quirrell is dead. With Voldemort in his body, he couldn't bear to touch me."

"Are you all right Harriet? We should get you to the hospital wing," said McGonagall worriedly.

"It is unnecessary," said Harriet, holding up the Grail, "I have tasted of the Grail. And I have been healed."

Everyone looked at her with a bit of uncertainty. She had a feeling that she hadn't exactly calmed their fears.

"Listen, I'm fine!" she insisted shaking herself out of the fey mood she had found herself in, "I was a bit drained when Voldemort left, but if the Grail has any power at all, it can surely replace my energy!"

Hermione nodded. "That is good to hear," she said.

"Did you conjure that water?" asked Morgan.

"No," said Harriet, "There… there was someone else. I didn't recognize them. He was an old man. He conjured the water and gave it to me."

"Strange…" said Dumbledore, "But perhaps not. Perhaps whoever created this place intended for there to be water to drink right away."

Hermione had begun to explore the back half of the room, now that it was no longer sealed off. Looking into a nook in the wall, she gasped. "Books!" she almost screamed.

Everyone ran to the nook. Indeed there were a long array of books here. Ancient books, clearly left there by the founders. Hermione had very, very carefully picked one up, but there was no need for excessive caution. They were in pristine condition.

Hermione gasped. "These are the journals of Helga Hufflepuff! This is the chronicle of the opening of Hogwarts!" She carefully set down the book and pulled out the last one.

"And this is about the rebuilding! We have all of Helga Hufflepuff's journals up to the completion of the reconstruction of the castle!" squealed Hermione.

"Hermione…" said McGonagall.

"There is a veritable treasure trove of knowledge that we can get from these books!" shouted a now over the moon Hermione.

"Hermione, these books are written in Old Norse," said Morgan gently.

"Wait, what?" asked Hermione as she looked at the book in her hands again, "They are. But how… I can read it! I can read Old Norse!"

Harriet smiled. "I think Ravenclaw's trial may have given you a gift."

"But why…" started Hermione before she slapped herself in the head, "I told the shade that I couldn't read Old Norse!"

"How very clever of Rowena Ravenclaw," said Snape.

"Of course she'd have to add some silly power like that to her test," said Morgan with a fond smile, "She _would_ have to show off how much smarter she was than everyone else. How very like her."

"An interesting observation," said Dumbledore, his eyebrows raised at Morgan's comment, "Still I think we can leave this place for the moment. Despite Miss Potter's protestations, I do think a visit to the infirmary is in order."

"But the books!" said Hermione.

Dumbledore smiled. "I will take them with us. I promise you, you will be the first to examine them. It seems you have earned the right. But we will discuss this in the morning."

So the Gryffindors allowed McGonagall to lead them to the hospital wing, Harriet still carrying the Grail. There, a rather tired looking and surly Madam Pomfrey looked them over. She found nothing wrong with Ron or Hermione, but Harriet…

"What happened to you!" demanded Madam Pomfrey, "I gave you a physical before you joined the Quidditch team, and you had a number of minor but permanent injuries stemming from your uncle's abuse!"

"I drank from the Grail," said Harriet, "It healed me."

"It certainly seems to have!" said Pomfrey excitedly, "I've never seen the like!"

"So she is in good health," asked McGonagall.

"Perfect health!" said Pomfrey, "What I wouldn't do to have that Grail as part of my infirmary."

Harriet nodded. "A lot of people would. A lot of people would kill for it as well."

Pomfrey's face fell at that. "You're right, Miss Potter, it is very dangerous at that."

"Should we do something with it?" wondered McGonagall.

"It's safe with me for the time being," said Harriet, "No one who can do anything about it knows I have it. I'm sure the Headmaster will have an idea of what to do with it tomorrow."

And so McGonagall led them back to Gryffindor tower. Where, of course, all the girls in their year were up.

"Where were you?" asked Parvati, "What happened? We heard the wards go off."

Harriet grinned, "This, girls, is the Holy Grail." She held up the ancient chalice.

The girls gasped, and Harriet laughed. It was nice to have friends.

XXXXX

The next day Harriet woke feeling fresh, no doubt due to the Grail's influence. Hermione was still fast asleep. That was for the best, really. She'd had a rough day. Harriet got dressed really quickly. She made a quick judgment call, and grabbed the Grail and brought it with her.

She headed straight for the Headmaster's office. As she approached the gargoyle outside it, the door opened. Apparently she was expected, which didn't surprise Harriet.

At the top of the stairs, she went into Dumbledore's office. And Sirius was there of course. As was Dumbledore, who had a rather serious look on his face.

"Harriet," said Sirius gravely, "Why didn't you tell me that you were looking for the Holy Grail?"

"Oops," said Harriet, "I must have forgotten. If I had told you…"

"I would have told you to follow the Headmaster's advice," said Sirius, his face not exactly stern, but concerned.

"Well in that case, that's fine, I didn't need another person giving me bad advice," quipped Harriet.

Sirius tried very, very hard to suppress his smile at that. He almost succeeded. Dumbledore on the other hand was still looking rather grave.

"I mean, Voldemort went right for the Room of Requirement. He knew where the Grail was when he came in," said Harriet, conveniently failing to mention Hagrid's role in the whole thing, "If I hadn't been going for the Grail right then, he would have gotten it. I mean I would have come to you Headmaster, but you made your position on this very clear. And having Ron and Hermione along really sped things up."

"You had no way of knowing any of that," said Dumbledore.

"Neither did you have any way of knowing that worse wouldn't happen," said Harriet, "Ignorance of the future is an essential part of the human condition. All you can do is your best and hope it doesn't go all pear-shaped."

Dumbledore sighed, and a slight smile appeared on his face, "I suppose I expected too much restraint out of a first year Gryffindor."

"Damn straight!" said Harriet, "Waiting is not my strong suit."

"We need to discuss the consequences of this," said Sirius.

"Voldemort was weakened again," said Harriet, "That should keep him from coming back for at least a few years."

"I agree," said Dumbledore, "Though our respite may only be a couple of years. He exposed himself yesterday. And while that did leave him vulnerable, it also opens the door to him gaining assistance from some former servant of his. With such assistance he could potentially return to power at any time."

"How cheerful," said Harriet, "After which, I assume he'll put killing me at the top of his list of things to do?"

"That is a safe assumption," said Dumbledore.

"Why?" asked Harriet, "I mean why did he come after me in the first place. Because he clearly was coming after me, and not my parents."

"Harriet, I am afraid that you are not…"

"Do NOT say that I am not ready for that information," said Harriet angrily, "Hufflepuff's test dropped me into a world where my parents were alive, at the cost of everything else I held dear. Do you understand? For one moment, I knew what it was like to have my parents there, loving me. I deserve to know why they died. I need to know why they died."

"Harriet's right," said Sirius, "If she's old enough to ask the question, she's old enough to get the answer."

Dumbledore nodded, "Perhaps you are right. I may have been overprotective thus far. Very well, suffice to say that there was a prophecy that indicated that a person born on a very specific day would be the one who could defeat Voldemort. I will not go into the entire prophecy here, but the day in question was the day of your birth."

"Wow," said Harriet, "That's… wow. Okay, so I'm going to have to kill Voldemort. Or die, I guess. That's great. I'll get right on it."

"You don't have to do anything right now Harriet," assured Sirius, "You're eleven. No one is expecting you to go kill You-Know-Who tomorrow."

"That is not really that comforting," said Harriet, "Sorry, I'm not really thrilled with this Chosen One business."

"Nor should you be," said Dumbledore, "It is a very heavy burden. One I had not wanted to lay on you before it was necessary."

"Maybe you want to take another chug out of the Grail?" suggested Sirius.

"The Holy Grail is not a belt of whiskey!" insisted Harriet angrily, "It is a powerful healing instrument!"

"It is good that you take the Grail's powers seriously," said Dumbledore, "I trust you are not feeling any ill effects?"

"No, I don't," said a relieved Harriet, "And it healed a lot of my injuries. But it didn't heal my scar." She pointed at the scar on her forehead.

"Well your scar isn't an ordinary injury," admitted Dumbledore, "I doubt that just about anything would heal that."

"Everything I know about the Grail would indicate that it would heal my scar," insisted Harriet.

"Your scar is not just an injury," said Dumbledore, "It is also the sign of your mother's love for you. It is created by both powerful positive and negative magics. It simply isn't an injury in the sense that you or I would think about."

"Hmm," said Harriet, unconvinced.

"Are you sure you are feeling all right?" asked Sirius.

"I'm fine, I think," said Harriet, "But I do have to wonder how powerful the Grail is. Because it changed how I think."

"What do you mean?" asked Sirius.

"Well, I'm no longer afraid of my uncle," said Harriet, "I used to be so angry at my uncle, now I think of him and I'm… sad."

"That is interesting," said Dumbledore, "But not all the things that you feel are an intrinsic part of your personality."

"I agree," said the voice of Morgan, who walked into the room, "Your rage and fear were a product of your trauma, and nothing else, so when your trauma went away, so did they. But have you forgiven your uncle?"

"No, of course not," said Harriet.

"Nor should you," said Morgan, "That is a consequence not just of your pain, but of your reason, and your experience. It is a part of your being, as opposed to something that was more superficial."

"So I'm healed in Mind and Soul, but it isn't like it never happened to me," said Harriet.

"Exactly," said Morgan.

"An interesting way of looking at things," said Dumbledore.

"Do you want to drink from the Grail?" asked Harriet, "If what you've told me is true, you could use it."

"I… do not, though I thank you for your offer," said Morgan, "I find some of my pains give me… perspective. Badly needed perspective."

"Is there some reason that you have disturbed our conversation?" asked Dumbledore.

"I came to speak about what to do with the Grail," said Morgan.

"That is a very good question," said Dumbledore.

"You should give it to Flamel," said Morgan. Dumbledore looked at her sharply.

"What do you know about Flamel?" he asked shrewdly, "You reacted to him when you met him."

"He has the mark of Atlantis on him," Morgan admitted, "He is a Guardian of Atlantis. He can take the Grail to Avalon. There it will be safe, until it is needed."

"Like Arthur…" said Sirius.

"Arthur is dead!" snapped Morgan. Dumbledore and Sirius both stared at her, shocked at her sudden outburst. Harriet just patted her on the arm.

"You have to tell them," said Harriet, "You promised."

"I did," said Morgan, "I am the reincarnation of Morgana Pendragon. Morgana used the Ritual of Awakened Samsara. I am the result."

Dumbledore looked completely dumbfounded, while Sirius just looked lost.

"You… are Morgana?" asked Sirius.

"You could say that," said Morgan, "But only in part. Part of me lived without her memories before they manifested. And I have not been subjected to The Darkness as she was. I am a reincarnation of her that has her memories."

"I must admit, I did not suspect this," said Dumbledore.

"Headmaster," said Harriet, "I know that this looks very bad for Professor Solaire. When I first heard, I was very suspicious. But she helped me. She helped me find the Grail. And she doesn't want it! At least think things over before you make any decisions. I don't know if she's on the up and up or not. But don't we owe it to her to at least consider that she might not be lying?"

"I will consider this," said Dumbledore, "I promise nothing else."

"That's all I want," said Harriet.

"Did you… apparate yesterday?" asked Dumbledore hesitantly, "It shouldn't be possible for you to apparate on Hogwarts grounds."

"Unless you're an elf," said Morgan.

"Are you an elf?" joked Sirius.

"I learned much from them in Avalon," said Morgan, "Including how to use sorcery to imitate their ability to apparate."

Sirius whistled and Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly.

"Time for us to go, I think Harriet," said Sirius, "I think the Headmaster is going to need to do some tests."

Harriet nodded. She'd done all she could for Morgan, now the woman would have to convince Dumbledore herself.

XXXXX

Hermione sat in the Gryffindor common room. She was waiting for Ron to come down. She wasn't one hundred percent comfortable with him, but Hermione was willing to put up with that now. Because she felt he'd earned his second chance as her friend. But she had to admit she wasn't very inclined to give him a third chance if he screwed up this one.

Ron came down, his robes unkempt as ever.

"Come on," said Hermione, "Harriet left ages ago."

"Well she did get to drink from the Grail," noted Ron, "Who knows what sort of powers it gave her?"

"It didn't give her powers Ronald," said Hermione exasperatedly, "It heals people. That's it. That's more than enough."

As they headed for the door, McGonagall intercepted them.

"Harriet may have left early enough to escape me, but you two haven't," said the stern head of Gryffindor.

"Escape you for what?" asked Ron.

"Seriously Ron, you need to be quiet now," said Hermione, "It's obviously because we were out in the halls past curfew."

"Luckily for the both of you, the Headmaster has insisted that we not punish you for your transgression, as you probably did save the magical world by doing so. Still, that does not mean that you will get away from this free and clear!" McGonagall put her hands across her chest sternly, "If you are ever out of bounds at night again, your punishment will be doubled!"

"Yes, Professor McGonagall," said both Ron and Hermione at the same time.

"Now, go find Harriet," said McGonagall, "I think she'd like to see you again, after what she went through last night."

"Right!" agreed Hermione. She quickly led Ron away. They'd gotten off lightly and no mistake. Hermione wondered what her parents would say about all this.

XXXXX

Dumbledore and Morgan stood at the front gate of Hogwarts, Dumbledore holding the Grail. He looked at the woman standing beside him. Every test he could perform on her said she was telling the truth. It was disconcerting. Could it be true? Was she Morgana? Was she something else entirely? He simply didn't know.

They heard a pop from just off the grounds. It was Flamel, who was accompanied by three elves. Well dressed elves, even if their clothing was centuries out of date.

"You wish me to take the Grail?" asked Flamel.

"You are taking it to Avalon?" asked Dumbledore, "As a Guardian of Atlantis?"

Flamel smiled. "Yes, I will," he said.

"There are still elves in Avalon," said Morgan, her voice catching.

"Free elves," said Flamel.

"I am glad," she said, "I'd thought it all was lost."

Dumbledore handed the Grail to Flamel carefully.

"I trust you, old friend," said Dumbledore, "Keep this safe."

"No one save the Guardians of Atlantis have set foot in Avalon since the day it was sealed off from the world," said Flamel.

He turned to Morgan. "You are marked, as I am, I am sure of it. How is that possible?"

"In another time and place, I was a Guardian," said Morgan, "I am no longer, to my great shame."

Flamel just nodded. Apparently he realised he would get no more out of her.

"Well, goodbye Albus," he said, "We'll probably meet again. I must say, I'm impressed by the young girl who found this. It takes a lot of guts to stand up to Voldemort directly."

And he took a step back and apparated away. The three elves followed moments later.

How had he known about Voldemort? Dumbledore wondered. He shook his head. It wasn't important now. Later perhaps, but not now.

"I believe that you are Morgana," said Dumbledore, "and I believe that you mean us no harm. What is your interest in Harriet?"

"She is a special girl," said Morgan, "Impressive in almost every way. She could be what I wasn't, the hero who saves the magical world from itself. She's already a far more compassionate person than I ever was."

Dumbledore smiled, "I am rather glad that she escaped from her uncle with so little harm in the end."

"Much of the harm was already done," said Morgan, "But that can't be helped. You on the other hand have some explaining to do."

"What do you mean?" asked Dumbledore.

"Why haven't you told Harriet that she has a Horcrux in her head?" demanded Morgan.

Dumbledore could feel the blood draining from his face.

"And why shouldn't I tell her?" Morgan added a few moments later.

"Because why give a little girl what amounts to a death sentence?" said Dumbledore stubbornly, "I believe there may be a way to counteract this, but I will admit I have yet to find it."

Morgan looked stunned for a moment. "I'm not sure, but I am one of the greatest experts on healing curses that has ever lived…"

"What are you saying?" demanded Dumbledore.

"Give me some time, a year or so, and I think I might be able to figure out how to remove the Horcrux from Harriet," said Morgan, "Until then, I suppose there is no harm in not telling the girl."

Dumbledore nodded. Perhaps he had found a strong ally at last.

XXXXX

Harriet walked into the dungeon. Snape's office. He had sent a member of his house to summon her, out of the blue.

"You wished to see me sir?" Harriet asked neutrally.

"I owe you an apology Potter," said Snape, "I misjudged you. You've behaved very maturely and intelligently this year, and I did not. You behaved… almost like your mother would have."

Harriet pursed her lips, but said nothing. This was Snape's party, he could explain himself before she would give him anything.

"I loved your mother," admitted Snape, "She was my friend, my only friend in that godforsaken hole I called my home town. And when I saw your father wooing her, I admit, I wasn't gracious about it. Not that this in any way excused the behavior of your father and his friends, but I lost Lily all on my own. Through my own stupidity. So when the Dark Lord moved to kill her, I begged him to spare her. And when he didn't, I turned spy for Dumbledore, if only he'd protect her."

Snape shook his head. "After she died, I promised Dumbledore I'd protect you, for her sake. And I will. You just, well you remind me a bit too much of Sirius at times."

"Yeah," said Harriet, "Well he did kind of raise me. And he did a good job, when he was allowed to do it. He is sorry about how he treated you, you know. He'd never insult you by trying to tell it to you to your face, but it's true."

Snape laughed, humourlessly. "I know of course. Black isn't really an evil person, no matter how much I want him to be one. Still, that doesn't make him a good person, though I imagine you disagree with me there."

Snape's face fell. "But if I am to come completely clean with you, there is something you need to know. I was the one who told Voldemort that there was a prophecy that indicated who would kill him. I only heard part of the prophecy, but it was enough. It sent him…" Snape's voice broke off. He wasn't crying, but it was clear that he could no longer finish his sentence.

"It sent him after me and my parents," said Harriet, her blood running cold.

"You needed to know," said Snape, "you are the only hope we have for the future. I'd only ask that you not tell Black. If he knew…"

Harriet nodded numbly. Sirius would definitely do something rash about this. Best to keep it quiet.

"I'm… going to go now," swallowed Harriet, stumbling towards the door, "Please… don't talk to me for a little while, okay?"

And then, she fled.

XXXXX

As Harriet looked out over the school from the clock tower, she listened to the murmurs of the other students. They all seemed to know that Voldemort had been there, that Harriet had found the Grail, and that she had defeated Voldemort once again. It was all a bit much.

Still, she had to admit, it was good to know that people were wishing her well. She'd gotten many smiles of thanks and support over the last day, and she was grateful. The Slytherins seemed to be avoiding her. Which also made sense, after a fashion.

Part of her wished Snape had remained quiet. It would have been easier. But he was right. She needed to know. And part of her was sad that Snape suffered over what had happened to her mother. No one deserved to lose someone like that. Even if he was a creep.

Ron and Hermione weren't far away, but they both knew that she didn't want to be bothered right now. They were mostly keeping away gawkers or well-wishers. Harriet felt incredibly lucky to have both of them as her friends.

"For one moment, I could have been immortal," she said quietly. It was a silly thought. Immortality wasn't a good thing. Giving up the Grail had been the right decision.

What was good were her friends, her family, and the people who had come this far with Harriet. Even as she bore her mother's love, in a lesser way, they bore her love for them. They were all connected.

Harriet wouldn't let them down. She didn't have a choice. But she knew she'd need all of their help to get her through what was to come. Maybe she'd even need Snape's help. The thought gave her chills.

"Time to get back to school," she said, turning to Hermione and Ron. And they followed her back down into the school. There was still a long road ahead for all of them. And the only choice Harriet had right now was who would come with her.

She believed she'd chosen well.

**End of Part 2:**

**Coming Soon: **

**Part 3 of Harriet Potter and the Guardians of Atlantis: Harriet Potter and the Founders' Wars**

**Author's Note:** My favorite part of this chapter is actually the moments when Harriet is trying to be profound and everyone just thinks something is wrong with her. She tries just a little too hard to be mature, and it really doesn't work sometimes.

That is the last chapter for Part 2, Part 3 will require some work before it is publishable. Part 3 will follow the Chamber of Secrets plot... for a while. But that is just a way to introduce the larger story, which will involve Harriet and Hermione trying to prove Salazar Slytherin wasn't a pureblood bigot. Draco will do his best to keep his father from going to Azkaban, and Barty Crouch Jr. will be trying his best to muddy the waters. Oh and Umbridge will show up in second year. And I haven't even touched on the stuff that is just nuts!

I'll probably start posting more around the end of 6th year of Twisted Path. Until then, stay safe everyone!


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